Fourth Line Foundation

The Tanner Glass train keeps on rolling, ladies and gentleman.  This is what I wanted to see from him when we signed him.  This is why I freaked out when we signed him.  This was why I was a bit disappointed with him earlier in the season.  No more.  Tanner Glass has seemingly settled in as someone who is going to protect his teammates and remember the name plates of those going after his flock.



I'm going to call this a borderline hit.  I'm not sure Sutter has any control of the puck whatsoever so what business does McCormick have hitting him?  But, I can imagine I see the world through black and gold glasses sometimes, certainly the hockey world at the very least.  So, we'll say that it's a legal hit but a littttle bit an the awkward side, yes?  I'm the one writing this, so yes, definitely.  Tanner Glass takes the number and files it away for later use.

The hit takes place late in the second period.  The fight comes early in the third.  You think Sutter doesn't notice Glass doing something like this?  You think Sutter won't take chances where he get might hit knowing there's a counter weight to people hitting him hard or taking liberties against him?  Guys like Sutter do what they do and don't feel fear doing it because they know someone has their back.  Someone like Tanner Glass.



So, Tanner Glass stands up for his teammate.  That's great, as I said.  What is just as good, if not better, is Cody McCormick's behavior.  What a classy move by him to not continue throwing punches while Glass is jerseyed.  It's honestly something you don't see anymore; too often you see guys throwing punches while their opponent is in bad shape, or on the ice, or can't see.  Of course, it doesn't always go well for you if you DO jersey your opponent, too.

Ha! Oh Ruutu, you Finnish prankster you, I miss you so.

It's nice to see some fighters that still follow The Code (murky as that thing's interpretation of fighting is.)  Glass doesn't win this fight, but he wins "hearts and minds," on the Penguins bench.  And mine, naturally.

Guy who doesn't follow The Code?  Or follow being a good person in general?  Steve Ott.  At the end of the game Steve Ott decides to, I don't know, exchange recipes or mailing address or ask Marc-Andre Fleury wear he's going to eat now.  Apparently, Ott was mad that Fleury wasn't going for wings afterwards because he loses his mind for no reason, causing a post game scrum.  All respect to Brooks Orpik for charging in from the boards to get in Ott's face, but this is the Craig Adams show now.

Adams starts off with the solid facewash on Ott but then deals looks to Ott that I'm pretty sure would have killed non hockey players as the refs tried to pull them apart.  This is what I love about Adams, he does yeoman work.  He blocks shots, he kills penalties, he hits, he works.  He'll also drop the gloves when he needs to, despite not being the best fighter in the world.

I was furious when Ott was traded to the Sabres for reasons like this.  Dude is going to get under your skin and score the occasional back breaking goal as he seemingly did when the Sabres went up 3-2 in this game.  So, I'd recommend everyone to get their popcorn ready for the next time the Sabres and Pens come together.  Adams and Ott have a history:

Judging by that crosscheck Adams throws before the fight even begins, CFA isn't too much a fan of Steve Ott.  Add today, and there's definitely some hate brewing between these two.

We'll see ya next time, Stevie.  Try not to throw such a temper tantrum when you lose, next time.

Sometimes Deryk Engelland is Dumb

I'm apparently a prophet, you guys.  In literally the game after (almost during,) my previous post about the thin ice (get it? Hockey!) Deryk Engelland was skating on, he proves it.

It begins early in the first period with his fight with former Penguin pugilist, Chris Thorburn.

Ummm...why?  Show fights are fun sometimes.  They can set a tone.  They can wake your team up.  They can do some good.  You know what a show fight doesn't help?  The rest of your team skating up ice on an odd man rush.  The sting from this mistake from Engelland, who seemingly started the fight by shoving Thorburn more after they came out of the corner, is lessened by the fourth line stunning everyone and scoring anyway after the post fight face off.  However, this is something that cannot happen regularly because, well, the fourth line isn't going to score regularly.

The other big statistic from Engelland other than that 5 spot in the PIMs section?  The big, fat, ONE in the giveaway section.  I don't have to tell any of you how big that turnover was.  It's emblazoned in my brain like I have a photograph memory like I'm Cam Jansen.  Not the Devils enforcer, the girl detective with the photographic memory:

If you didn't read Cam Jansen mysteries when you were a kid I don't even know.

Sooner or later, the fact that Engelland is "tough," and "throws bombs," is going to get outweighed by "turns the puck over," and "fights at bad times sometimes."

You know who's lurking?

Though, then again it was Depres that was inexplicably scratched in favor of Bortuzzo for the game against the Sabres today.  Regardless, Engelland needs to tighten up his hockey sense and his fighting sense if he's going to stay in this lineup long term.  There are too many young and talented defensemen in the Penguins system nipping at his heels.

Defense?

It's been a stunning turn of events, really, for the Penguins defensive corps.  Going into the season, pretty much the entire fan base thought the back pair was a weak spot for the Penguins.  With a healthy Brooks Orpik, redeemed Paul Martin, Kris Letang continuing to do what Kris Letang does, and Matt Niskaken being solid still, we had many of our fears put to rest.  Paul Martin alone is reason for celebration; if you thought he was going to turn around you probably saw the ending of this movie coming, too:

By which, of course, I mean to say is you're a fucking liar.  What a movie, by the way.  So, the top four has been much better than anyone could have expected.  NOW though, with the arrival of Simon Depres and the plugging of Deryk Engelland, it looks like we don't even need to trade for a defenseman as we originally thought we might be forced to.  Wonder for what the Penguins should acquire at the trade deadline has once again turned to wings for our superstar centers rather than a top 4 defenseman.  With numerous players traded at Evgeni Malkin's left wing, it's not that surprising to see why.

The final reason I believe that the Penguins' focus is now rightfully on a wing is Robert Bortuzzo.  I cannot contain my excitement for this guy any longer.  Despite the tragedy of not getting a Bort t-shirt just yet, nothing is stopping his seemingly meteoric (sorry, Russians,) rise in the Penguins defensive corps.  For me, the only thing keeping him out of the top six is the experience of Deryk Engelland.  Engo hasn't had many bad games, but if I were him I'd be looking over my shoulder.  Bort somehow reminds me of Hal Gill and Robert Scuderi at the same time.  Which, I mean, enough said, right?

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't talk about Engelland's fists.  Engelland can fight, no doubt in anyone's mind he is one of the best heavyweights in the league.  However, Tanner Glass can fight, and, as we've discussed previously, so can Robert Bortuzzo.  He finally got his first fight in the NHL against New Jersey:



An awkward fight, but it's something Bortuzzo wanted.  People want to hate fights right off the opening draw but I think this is different. This is a bit of carry over from the night before, Bortuzzo getting in anyone's face in Jersey simply was remember.  They got it out of their system immediately and the Pens could get on with the rest of their night: a totally boring game.

So, while Bortuzzo is going to be scratched a bit in the coming days/weeks, fear not, he's coming.  He's coming, NHL...

In Which the Penguins Tell Me to Shut Up

Just so everyone knows, I'd like to take obvious credit for the recent play of the Penguins in terms of grit.  CLEARLY, the Penguins read my crappy blog and took to heart my message that they weren't sticking up for each other enough in recent games.  Since the Penguins got pushed around a little at Madison Square Garden despite the win, the Penguins haven't taken any crap from anyone.

Furthermore, I think the other reason that the Penguins took to heart the message they totally got from my blog is the guy leading the charge: Tanner Glass.  You'll remember, you handful of people who read this, that I called out Glass specifically as a guy who needed to ratchet the grit in his game up.  He has not disappointed.

Nothing like a rival to get your grit coming in spades.  After two relatively quiet games against the Devils and, surprisingly, the Capitals, it was the New York Islanders who woke the Penguins up at long last.  I really consider the Islanders to be one of our top rivals, these days.  A few years of dominance, a goalie's broken jaw, and a deplorable brawl, and it's easy to see why the Islanders and Penguins might hate each other.  You throw in recent memory of Andrew MacDonald's boarding hit on Ben Lovejoy (which, apparently no video evidence exists of, nor Shanahan's suspension explanation,) and you have a pretty nice rivalry brewing.

And, much like Johan Hill and elephants, Tanner Glass subscribes to a big time philosophy:



Granted, it was only a week ago, so unless Glass has a memory only slightly better than a goldfish he should be able to recall the board by MacDonald (even if the Internet apparently can't.)  Throw in the fact that MacDonald likes to do give our superstars crap after this whistle and this happens:



That's right, Tanner Glass fights Matt Martin.

...Wait what?  Andrew MacDonald was supposed to fight there, wasn't he?  Just terrible, cowardly, AND all caught on video.  You literally get to SEE Glass ask MacDonald for a fight, watch him shake his head and then back away as Matt Martin steps up to fight his battle for him.  This isn't a show fight, this isn't a pre-planned fight, this is a fight where a man answers the bell for shenanigans he has done previously.  MacDonald doesn't here, so the debt is still unpaid.  Regardless of MacDonald fighting or not, he seemed to get the message because I'm pretty sure he didn't even exist the rest of the game.

The other surprising thing from this fight, of course, is that Matt Martin actually fought a guy face to face.  I was really expecting Tanner Glass to turn his back before Matt Martin dropped 'em and started chucking them.  I'm sure you all remember this.



What a great time that night was... I think my favorite bit of this is the MSG announcer trying to say it's just the emotion of the game.  Yup, just the emotion of the game sucker punching someone. Todd Bertuzzi thinks it's okay, though.

It doesn't end there for Tanner Glass.  In the next game Glass got into the face of the (once) superstar Alex Ovechkin after a high hit by the (sorta) superstar.  There's no photo evidence of this from professional photographs because Getty taking pictures of the ice crew is more important, but thankfully my man Dugan lifted a couple shots from the broadcast for me:

It is nice to see Glass not give a crap about getting in anyone's face.  Of course, who was going to stop him from going after Washington's captain?  The Caps seem very listless, where the Penguins were about a week ago, no one standing up for each other and just going through the motions.  Oh, and they aren't good at hockey.

Wojtek Wolski sees nothing wrong with the best fourth line in hockey giving his captain grief.  Nothing to see here fellas, move it along...

The other players that have really stepped up for me are on the third defensive pairing: Robert Bortuzzo and and Deryk Engelland.  Game in, game out, Bortuzzo has gotten into the faces of anyone.  Whether it was a superstar like Ovechkin or a bruiser like David Clarkson.  Today against New Jersey, Bortuzzo and Engelland taking liberties eventually lead to this:



Seems this was one of the few bright spots for the Penguins today.  Eventually this game devolved into penalty city, but the Penguins started out tough, not taking anything from the Devils.  Hit our star away from the play, perhaps even accidentally, someone is going to have to answer for it. 

It is incredibly exciting to see the arrival of Robert Bortuzzo in Pittsburgh.  He, along with Simon Depres, are getting better and better with every game.  Full disclosure though: my man crush on Robert Bortuzzo is growing with every game, too.  A true defensive defenseman coming into his own right before out eyes, Bort has size, ability, and grit.  Add to that his toughness and him not backing down from nary a challenge?  Yeah, not hard to see why I'm a big fan already.  Today he might have fought Clarkson, a reputed NHL tough guy.  More surpringsly, in the minors he fought Jon "Nasty," Mirasty, a guy who averaged around 20 fights a year in the AHL and once fought THIRTY-NINE times. Compare that to the last year we had a big time enforcer who fought often, Eric Godard, in 2008-2009.  Godard only fought 21 times that year.  It is insane Bortuzzo went up against Mirasty, as a rookie no less.

Overall though, the team deserves credit.  Beyond fights and after whistle shenanigans, the Penguins have hit more.  Since the NYR game in which they were out hit 22-34 they have out hit New Jersey 23-17, Washington 29-15, NYI 21-13, and Washington 19-11.  Today the boys were out hit 8-14 but, as Jay Caulfield pointed out on the post game show and I agree with, that more had to do with the momentum of the game as decreed by the refs: slow.  Penalty after penalty, sometimes fair, sometimes confusing, lead to the Pens not being able to hit and not being sure what kind of hits would be legal.

The win streak is snapped, you guys.  But, the boys are standing up for each other and looking out for each other.  Whether it be the other team, or the refs, the Pens have each other's backs.  The boys need to clean up their game a little bit and then it'll be smoooooth sailin' all over again.

Stretching for a Trend

Folks, you can read about the dominant performance by the Penguins during the actual play else where.  It was a very solid win by the Penguins, especially by the defense and the Czech wonder, Tomas Vokoun.  There is, however, for me, a trend that is growing within the Penguins that is disturbing.  The Penguins aren't really standing up for each other.

Flash it back to January 27th for a moment.  The Flyers were playing the Lightning.  Vinny Lecavalier drops the gloves with Luke Schenn after a big hit by Lecavalier on Kimmo Timonen.



Man, a stupid check for Schenn to get so angry over, but oh well.  What follows is new personal hero for me, BJ Crombeen, sticking up for his captain the rest of the game through subtle ways.  "You're going to goad our superstar captain into a fight? I'm going to chase yours up and down the ice the whole game, bumping him, letting him know I'm there the whole time."  Intimidating doesn't always come from fighting.  Sometimes, you scare a guy into having no points and being a -1 like Giroux was that night by simply making him be afraid of his own shadow.  And, in this case, Crombeen fighting Tom Sestito, for example, wouldn't have said the same message.

This is why the Penguins recent play after the whistles have been frustrating to me.



Evgeni Malkin gets ambushed for playing to the whistle here after some bumping and stick checking with Marc Staal.  I don't understand this.  People want to say Staal is just doing his job.  Doing your job is checking Malkin at the end of the play.  Solid, get your man away from the goalie.  Staal continuing his action against Malkin after he's been knocked into the boards and to the ice?  Not so much.  The most disappointing thing here though?  Tanner Glass.  Get your MVP of the league super star out of the wash, don't just wrap up with Brad Richards.  What's Richards going to do, anyway?  What's a matter Tanner, only drop 'em when you plan the fight before face off?

I would also, to be unbiased (because I totally am you guys, I swear,) like to bring up Malkin's stick swing.  I'd like to think it was just him flailing but otherwise he needs to absolutely get this under control.  There is absolutely no place in the game for using your hockey stick as a weapon, else you see insanity like this.



Apologies for the terrible audio quality.

Apparently the rest of the garbage that took place during this game isn't being documented, most likely because an "enigmatic," Russian wasn't involved with the proceedings.  Instead of trying to paint a lovely picture of what happened, I'll just list them.

- Del Zotto's stick between Crosby's legs leading to a boarder line boarding. (Would've been boarding if it was Chris Kunitz)

- Crosby getting run after a play by Dan Girardi.

- Vokoun getting his hands whacked and slashed multiple times after covering the puck up.

In the case of Girardi he at least went to the penalty box.  But with the Penguins power play being very much in the poor house up until James Neal's goal later in the game, you have to wonder if the Penguins will subscribe to this man's school of thought in going after Penguin stars.

"Two minutes? Well worth it."

The other cases, however, there is no excuse.  The Penguins simply have to get tougher after the whistle or we're going to see more teams trying to take liberties with our stars.  Your goalie at that point is locked in on his way to a shut out and you barely lift a finger to stop a guy hacking his wrists.  Guys, REMEMBER, Vokoun is used to having his HEAD hit by sticks, not his hands, you gotta stop those dudes!  I think things like this can snowball.  Remember Ryan Miller and Milan Lucic last year?  Remember how Buffalo spiraled after that incident?  Now this season they bulked up and are playing much better as a team looking out for itself.

Much like my last post, however, I don't think the Penguins are without the ability to do it.  We don't necessarily need to bring up Steve MacIntyre from Wilkes-Barre Scranton, but it would be nice to see guys like Chris Kunitz, Deryk Engelland, Tanner Glass, or Craig Adams do one of the things they are good at.  Get nasty boys, face wash someone, take a penalty now and then to get your point across.  Our PK will bail you out, and the stars will play with more abandon knowing someone has their back.

But, then again...if we called up Steve MacIntyre, I assume his entrance to the locker room would be exactly like this.



Who am I kidding? The actor who played Dean Portman can skate better than Mac, I'm pretty sure.

Course, if the Pens can start putting together wins like this despite the shenanigans after the whistle, who the fuck am I to say anything?