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Jordan Staal Returns

Williams, McDonald Re-assigned to AHL

The Penguins played the Montreal Canadiens last night. They lost in a shootout. Evgeni Malkin scored on a pretty sick move.

There were a few quirky goals. Kristopher Letang attacked P.K. Subban at the end of overtime for, well, committing P.K. Subban-like atrocities.

Ok, that's out of the way. On to the real story.

One of my best friends (it's always hard to leave 'best friend' singular) returned from Afghanistan over the weekend. We decided to celebrate the occasion by reuniting on Tuesday and imbibing a few choice beverages.

I made a New Year's Resolution to cut out drinking for a year, but when said friend returns from a region where the average lifespan is 47.9 years, you try to appreciate your twenties.

In this instance, a month of sobriety more than sufficed.

I rolled up to his house around 6:00, dressed in whatever I was wearing for the day. Clothes are clothes. He was in his Brooks Orpik jersey. Clothes aren't clothes when you haven't had the option to freely dress for... a while.

When was the last time he was able to wear his jersey and watch a game? Or, hell, even just wear his jersey? You've got to think of the little things sometimes.

We spoke about life, politics briefly. Went into our unique political extremisms. They directly opposed each other, but who cares?

He was home. He was alive. And we were going to watch hockey together.

Continue reading this post »

The Pens started practice a little early. It's an optional skate so a few players didn't hit the ice. Malkin, Kunitz, Neal, Sullivan, Park & Martin are not on the ice.

Crosby's return imminent?

Sunday afternoon Pittsburgh Penguins games tend to be a bit of a drag. Add to the fact that the Pens were playing the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Superbowl Sunday and you have the recipe for a long two and a half hours.

There have been instances where the Pens have man-handled the Devils from start to finish, but today was not one of them. The Pens started sluggishly and paid for it with a quick Ilya Kovalchuk goal.

You could immediately feel it was going to be one of those games.

Both teams played intense games last night and came out victorious, but the difference was the Devils didn't play as if this was a second of a back-to-back game. They were the hungrier team and their play reflected that throughout the game. Nothing feels right for the Pens when they play in New Jersey so the end result wasn't really a shock, but I hope the Pens will be ready for the next three weekends which consist of back-to-back games.

The upside is the Pens get decent-size breaks. Always a good thing when Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal are working their way back into the lineup.

More thoughts on the game:

• Cal O'Reilly scored his first point as a Penguin *stick tap*. He's only played two games with the club, but he's been quick to impress. He plays a solid two-way game, has some slick playmaking skills and a great pass, as we all saw in his assist on Matt Niskanen's goal. As he becomes more acclimated to the team and the way Dan Bylsma runs the show, I expect we will continue to see good things from him.
• Missed calls had a interesting part in the game. Evgeni Malkin got away with a penalty at the beginning of the game and seconds later, Kovalchuk scores. Kovalchuk then got away with grabbing at Paul Martin during a Pens power play and Dainius Zubrus capitalized on the opportunity and put it in the back of the net.
• Marc-Andre Fleury allowed three goals on 12 shots before he told to cool his heels on the bench. The three goals weren't really his fault, per se, but you have to wonder how many back-to-backs Fleury will start. During pregame, Bylsma noted