28-10-0 | 56 Points 18-15-3 | 39 Points
Penguins Report: Game Day vs. NY Rangers
Friday, 04.05.2013 / 10:02 AM / Penguins Report
Pittsburgh Penguins
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- Verizon Game Day Report
- Lineup/injury updates
- Lines/D-pairs
- Pens pics (great batch today!)
- PensTV interviews
- Quotes from the locker room
- Rangers info
- Pens-Rangers preview
- Pumper vid
VERIZON GAME DAY REPORT
--Sam Kasan
SOUNDS HEARD AROUND THE ROOM
Dan Bylsma
Jussi Jokinen
Marc-Andre Fleury
Pascal Dupuis
Chris Kunitz
--Sam Kasan
RANGERS INFO
It appears that the Rangers will be using the same lineup against the Penguins from Wednesday night's 6-1 win. Makes sense.
Rick Nash
Martin Biron is quite the patriot
Derek Stepan
Newly acquired John Moore
--Drew Hancherick & Sam Kasan
THEY SAID IT
Quotes from the Pens locker room as they prepare for their rematch with the Rangers...
--Michelle Crechiolo
PENGUINS PICS
Vokoun takes a Gatorade break while the team gathers around coach Bylsma
Goalie fist bump
Love seeing the legendary No. 12 in black and gold
Neal's focused and ready for tonight
Veterans Morrow and Cooke pay close attention
New Penguins Murray and Jokinen circle around the ice
Another shot of Jokinen as he prepares for his first game as a Pen
Even though he's not a player anymore, coach Bylsma's still willing to sacrifice the body to block a shot!
Wish we knew what Eaton was saying as Despres prepares to shoot the puck
Eaton saw some time on the second PP unit this morning
--Michelle Crechiolo and Drew Hancherick
COACHSPEAK WITH DAN BYLSMA...
Head coach Dan Bylsma confirmed that:
- Letang skated today on his own prior to the team's morning skate.
- Crosby has not had concussion symptoms, but Bylsma doesn't know the steps needed for him to get back on the ice.
- Fleury starting in net
--Sam Kasan
MORNING SKATE INFO
Pens on the ice for morning skate. Only missing players are Sidney Crosby (broken jaw), Paul Martin (broken bone in hand) and Kris Letang (lower body). As expected, Jussi Jokinen centered Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis.
Kunitz-Jokinen-Dupuis
Neal-Malkin-Iginla
Morrow-Sutter-Cooke
Glass-Adams-Kennedy
Orpik-Eaton
Murray-Niskanen
Engelland-Despres-Bortuzzo
Update: The Pens' top PP unit remained the same with Niskanen and Iginal up top and Malkin, Kunitz and Neal down low.
The second PP unit however had an interesting look to it. Jokinen, Kennedy and Morrow were down low. But on the points the Pens used Dupuis and a rotation of Orpik and Eaton. Opposing teams are fearing for their lives.
--Sam Kasan
GAME PREVIEW
Clowe, Brassard and Moore made their Rangers debut Wednesday night against the Penguins, and so far they’re making general manager Glen Sather look like a genius. The three new players combined for eight points (4G-4A) in New York’s dominant 6-1 victory.
Clowe, who had a total of 0 goals in 28 games with the Sharks this season, potted two goals and added an assist for three points. He’s a gritty player that will add tenacity and physicality to the Rangers lineup. Clowe can also chip in offensively, as evidenced Wednesday. Prior to his struggles this season, he regularly scored in the 17-24 goals range.
Full game preview here.
--Sam Kasan
START THE DAY
Good morning Pens fans! The Pens will hit the ice at 10:30 a.m. for a morning skate in preparation for their 7 p.m. rematch with the NY Rangers at CONSOL Energy Center. It was New York that walked away with a dominant 6-1 victory Wednesday in the concrete jungle.
On Thursday the Pens held an optional skate. Only 10 players took part: forwards Jussi Jokinen, Jarome Iginla, Tyler Kennedy, Tanner Glass, Joe Vitale and Dustin Jeffrey, defensemen Robert Bortuzzo, Simon Despres and Mark Eaton, and goalie Tomas Vokoun.
Penguins coach hoping practice time gets new players comfortable
By Rob Rossi
Published: Thursday, April 4, 2013, 10:54 p.m.
Updated 6 hours ago
Dan Bylsma has a busy four weeks ahead.
In no particular order he would like to:
Wrap up the Atlantic Division and No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference; welcome captain Sidney Crosby, top defenseman Kris Letang and, maybe, defenseman Paul Martin back into the lineup; help four new players assimilate into the Penguins' way of work.
Bylsma, the Penguins head coach, also would like to double — at least — the number of ideal practices from February and March.
“I'd say we had two,” Bylsma said Thursday after an optional session at Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins (28-10-0, 56 points) have lost two straight games after 15 consecutive wins. They play the New York Rangers at home Friday night.
After that game, Bylsma and his players will try not to see one another until Monday. A free weekend during this shortened NHL season is rare.
So are three days between games, but the Penguins will have two stretches like that before the Stanley Cup playoffs open April 30.
Before Thursday's games, no NHL club had played more than the Penguins, who will have only nine games remaining after facing the Rangers.
Another way to look at it:
The Penguins will play nine games in the final 22 days of the regular season after the Rangers contest. The Penguins began this 48-game season with 14 games over 23 days.
All this free time should please Bylsma, a reputed rink rat who loves a day filled by film sessions and on-ice work.
However, a limited number of games will not mean more practices, Bylsma said Thursday.
“I wish I felt like the schedule was going to allow us to practice more,” Bylsma said. “I look at the next few days as a time to rest and recover rather than a time to get practice in. We will certainly value the practice time when we are able to get it.
“Being able to incorporate into practice the speed and our execution is important with our new players. Every chance we get that will be our focus. It won't be just going through a shooting drill to have a shooting drill. We need to make sure we can get that execution, the speed of that execution, into our game.”
The challenge of producing worthwhile practices is not unique to the Penguins during this shortened season, but here is how it has impacted them recently.
Forward Jussi Jokinen, acquired Thursday, will be the third of four players to join the club over the last two weeks who will play a game before participating in a full practice. Wingers Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow did that after their trades to the Penguins.
Center Evgeni Malkin and James Neal, who has moved from right wing to left wing to make room for Iginla, a right winger, have had just one full-squad practice session with one another.
Letang, out with a broken toe but skating on his own, will not be able to practice until Monday because Bylsma will give players the weekend to get away from hockey.
It is no doubt beneficial that 11 current Penguins were part of Bylsma's 2009 Stanley Cup squad. Still, there are four who weren't part of this squad two weeks ago and another five who never had practiced regularly with the Penguins before this season.
The playoffs are four weeks away. If Bylsma could get in one great practice each week, he would view that as a winning April.
Rob Rossi is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at [email protected] or via Twitter @RobRossi_Trib.
