Afternoon Puck

January 3, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It’s Saturday and there are a slew of games on including a couple this afternoon with Buffalo getting Thomas Vanek’s 26th and leading red hot Boston 4-2 in the third. Can they hold them off? Apparently, they did!

Meanwhile, the slumping Penguins are getting humiliated at home by the 10th place Panthers 6-1. Nathan Horton’s tallied twice and emerging Czech rookie Michael Frolik has again found the back of the net for his seventh. It’s worth noting that Sidney Crosby instigated a fight late in the second and has 11 penalty minutes including unsportsmanlike conduct. Wish I could’ve seen that.

Outside of a 1-0 road win over the Devils in which the inconsistent Marc-Andre Fleury stood on his head, Pittsburgh is about to drop their fifth in six and fourth in a row including a 2-0 loss on home ice to the woeful Lightning when the bad run began. They haven’t scored more than two goals in any game and already held a Players Only meeting following a 5-2 loss to the Bruins on Dec.30.

If the postseason began today, the Pens would barely make the cut trailing overachieving Carolina by a point while up just one on the Sabres for the final spot. However, if the scores hold, Buffalo would move ahead of them. After their 39th game barring a miracle, Pittsburgh will be 19-16-4 with just 42 points. They entered with a similar problem to the Rangers unable to score much. After today, their goal differential will be nearly even.

However, unlike the Blueshirts who aim for a second consecutive win at Washington later tonight, the Pens have a worse record and need to start playing better soon or their coach Michel Therrien could be out of a job. It appears they’re finally feeling the affects of losing Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone. Sergei Gonchar has begun skating on his own while Ryan Whitney has returned posting only an assist in five games so far with a minus-three rating. He doesn’t have any points today and is minus-two.

If they don’t start winning, the question is when will the axe finally fall on Therrien? They’ve scored only 121 goals which if you’re counting are 14 more than the lowscoring Rangers who they visit Monday.

The Pens have been guilty of sitting on leads and watching them go away in the third. The Rangers victimized them twice coming from two goals down before winning in a shootout. Yes. Even with two of the biggest stars, Pittsburgh plays that same boring style which has ticked many locals off here.

So, when is enough enough? You know if they keep losing, they’ll make a move unlike our clown of a GM. John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette are waiting for a phone call.