Pens-Caps Series Preview: Leonsis and Talent and Bylsma, Oh My

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals is set to commence this Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM on NBC.

If the game goes into overtime, not surprisingly, NBC will bail on the National Hockey League so as to not miss the heart-stopping action of a bunch of horses running around in circles for two minutes.

The game will switch over to VERSUS in the case of an overtime period, so as to not take away any air time from the Kentucky Derby.

I'd write a few more paragraphs about how big a joke NBC is when it comes to hockey coverage, but you are all quite aware of that by now, so on to the series.

To say that the Crosby vs. Ovechkin match up has been overused and over hyped to levels that not even the repetitive guitar parts of every song on a Nickleback album could fathom would be an understatement.

The only Blunt this guy ever touched was in the form of blunt force head trauma after listening to the chorus's on his band's first album.

These guys are two of the best players in the world. They don't like each other. Their teammates don't like each other. Their mothers would probably pull each other's hair at an NHL end-of-season barbecue. You get the point.

If you want an in depth summary of Crosby vs. Ovechkin matchups or you want to read all about how two players will ultimately determine the outcome of this series, go to NHL.com.

If you have ever actually watched a playoff hockey series, you know that two players does not a series winner make, or something like that.

There's no doubt that both Crosby and Ovechkin will ultimately play a huge role in the success, or failure of their respective team in this series, however, to say that the match up between two players will play such an integral role in the series that it will undoubtedly overshadow the impact of everyone else on the ice during the course of a best-of-seven game series is just foolish.

Bruce Boudreau, an effortless representative to stave off childhood obesity in the D.C. area, led the Washington Capitals to their first 50 win season in over 20 years and helped set a franchise record of 108 points during the 2008-09 campaign.

Capitals' owner Ted Leonsis phoned in to Gary Bettman's radio show in between bomb threats in his native Baghdad to say that he thinks "you're going to see playoff-style hockey but with a little more offense." What a statement.

The only thing Leonsis is going to see more of as a result of this series is ticket sales and cheeseburgers, which he has undoubtedly been sharing with his head coach.

Aside from the star power that will be on the ice in this series in the form of Crosby, Ovechkin, and Malkin, there are a few things that the Penguins have which the Capitals do not.

An in-shape head coach aside, the Penguins have a proven playoff performer between the pipes in the form of Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Caps have a hot hand in rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov.

If you think Simeon Varlamov is a proven playoff performer because he posted two shutouts and led his team back from a 3-1 deficit against the New York Rangers, you're kidding yourself.

The guy is obviously talented; you don't win playoff series if you're not, however, a 15 shot output from the Rangers in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series hardly provides a true test of a young goaltender's big-game ability.

Varlamov could have gone back to Russia in the last 10 minutes of Game Seven against the Rangers and still picked up the 'W' because they failed to muster a single shot on goal.

Another advantage that will likely tip the scales in the Penguins' favor is the third line match up.

Tyler Kennedy-Jordan Staal-Matt Cooke has been one of the most effective third lines in the National Hockey League since the beginning of the regular season, and continued their success in the first round against the Flyers.

Jordan Staal made Jeff Carter look like a seven-year-old girl trying to uproot an oak tree with her bare hands when he was in the offensive zone.

Tyler Kennedy turned off of the wall and fed centering passes to the front of the net with ease and also potted two goals in the series.

The Capitals know all about what Matt Cooke brings to the table.

The Caps' third line of Matt Bradley-David Steckel-Brooks Laich is inferior in both talent and physicality to the Pens' third line.

One similarity between the two teams is the underrated nature of their respective defensive corps.

Everyone knows how nasty Mike Green is, especially on the power play, but his partner Tom Poti and Milan Jurcina both offer big slap shots from the blue line to go along with big bodies in the defensive zone.

One thing people like to talk about when it comes to playoff matchups is history.

This year's meeting between the Pens and Caps will be the eighth such meeting in the history of the two franchises. Neither team has faced another team more times. That last sentence is one of the most confusing sentences is the history of modern language.

The Penguins are 6-1 all time against the Capitals in the playoffs, with Washington's lone series victory coming in 1994 in six games.

History is a fun thing to look at, but it means virtually nothing when you're talking about the playoffs.

The last meeting between the two teams in the post season occurred in 2001, when the Pens won the series 4-2.

Needless to say, both teams have undergone complete overhauls since 2001.

The hype surrounding this series makes the battle of David vs. Goliath look like a staged fight on an elementary school playground.

Ted Leonsis has no idea who David and Goliath are.

"All hail Allah"

There are rumors swirling around the blogosphere of the Washington Capitals' front office buying up tickets on Craigslist for the first two games of the series, and even going as far as posting "fake" tickets to the games so as to prevent Penguins' fans from picking them up.

Given Leonsis' track record, this doesn't come as much of a surprise. This comes from the same front office that blocked the 412 area code from their telephone lines in an effort to prevent Penguins' fans from attending games in D.C. last season.

Caps' fans won't believe that last sentence, but a quick Google search will prove your doubts wrong. If you're a Caps' fan, you probably don't know what Google is, so The Pensblog does a good job of summing all of this up.

The Penguins-Capitals rivalry has always been present in the Eastern Conference, but it has grown by leaps and bounds since the arrival of Crosby and Ovechkin to the National Hockey League.

The two fan bases don't like each other. As I already established, the players don't like each other.

Alex Semin showed his distaste for Sidney Crosby earlier this season by asking the media "what's so special about Sidney Crosby?"

While Crosby once again finished in the top three in the NHL in points and broke the 100 point mark for the second time in his career, Semin struggled to break in to the top 20 in the points race and finished the season just shy of 80 points.

Oh, and how many Stanley Cup Finals has Alex Semin been to?

If you're a Penguins' fan and you don't hate Alexander Ovechkin, you will by about the 10 minute mark of the first period of Game One of this series.

And if you're a Capitals' fan, that's a good thing, because it means Ovechkin is doing his job. It also means that he is still a joke.

Nothing can take away Ovie's star performance in "Happy Gilmore"

While Ovechkin will likely post somewhere in the ballpark of 10 shots on goal per game during this series, and he will likely score at least his fair share of big-time goals, keep in mind that it takes a 19 man effort to win a hockey game on any given night, something that the Capitals' skeptics in Pittsburgh will have a hard time believing until they see it.

Pens-Flyers Game 6: Max Talbot Owns Philadelphia

Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals was everything a hockey fan could have hoped for.

The momentum swung more than Mike Emrick's wife. There were goals, spectacular saves by Marc-Andre Fleury, and of course, a collapse of epic proportions by the Philadelphia Flyers. What more could you ask for?

The Pens don't win this series without this man.

The game started off in the usual manner with NBC throwing out preposterous assumptions about the Flyers having a better chance of winning Game 6 because they were on their home ice.

Pierre McGuire was replaced by Darren Pang in the flesh this afternoon on NBC, but the spirit of the biggest joke in sports lived on between the benches.

By the four minute mark of the second period, the Flyers had mounted a three goal lead.

After quick goals by Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul at the end of the first period, and an early tally by Daniel Briere in the second, it looked as though the Penguins might have dug themselves too deep of a hole.

If you gave up hope after the Flyers' third goal, shame on you for six weeks.

Exactly one year ago today, the Pens erased a three goal deficit against the New York Rangers in last year's playoffs and went on to win the game.

If there's one thing that the past two seasons have taught us about this group of Penguins, it is that they are never out of a game, especially when Daniel Carcillo is on the opposing team.

Up by three goals, Carcillo was coaxed into dropping the gloves with Max Talbot.

Now dropping the gloves when you're up by three goals in a regular season game in mid-November might be excusable. But engaging in a round of fisticuffs when you're ahead by three goals in a deciding game of a playoff series, that's just plain stupid.

Carcillo may have gotten the best of Talbot in the bout, but Max was able to rally his teammates behind him by putting himself in a position to be a game-changer.

Talbot for Mayor of Philadelphia

Sidney Crosby told Darren Pang after the game that when your teammate drops his gloves, the rest of the guys on the bench want to rally behind him, to show their support, and to make his effort worthwhile.

Andy Warhol couldn't have painted a better picture-perfect performance than the Penguins put on in the next 35 minutes.

Talbot shushed the Flyer crowd as he headed to the sin bin, while Carcillo motioned for the crowd to "get the f--k up."

The next motion Carcillo should see in his professional hockey career is the Flyers' GM telling him to "get the f--k out of Philadelphia."

Less than 30 seconds after the scrap, a sleeping giant was awakened.

Evgeni Malkin proved why he is currently the best player in the National Hockey League by making sure that the Penguins took advantage of the shift in momentum.

Geno flew into the zone, curled around the net, stopped on a dime and slid the puck toward the net.

A scramble ensued in front of the net, and Ruslan Fedotenko was able to get the pickle-stabber on the biscuit and force it in behind French Toast to make it 3-1 Flyers.

Just over two minutes later, Tyler Kennedy got the puck to the net, and Toast was unable to corall it.

Mark Eaton flew in out of nowhere to swat the puck out of midair and into the back of the cage. 3-2 Flyers.

Sidney Crosby (who sucks) tied the score at three before the end of the period when a Bill Guerin shot deflected off of Toast's glove and into the air, where Sid swiftly batted it home.

The stage was set for an epic third period battle.

The Pens didn't waste much time grabbing the lead early in the third period as Malkin gained the offensive blue line and dropped the puck back to Sergei Gonchar, who unloaded a wicked slap shot that Biron still hasn't seen. 4-3 Pens.

The Flyers would post just five shots on goal for the rest of the third period. Fleury turned aside all five of them.

In the game's dying seconds, the Flyers pulled Biron in hopes of tying the game and forcing overtime.

The Pens had somewhat of a different plan for the outcome of the game.

Crosby (who sucks) picked off a weak pass in the neutral zone and flew into the Flyers' zone, staring at the gaping net in his path. He was forced wide by a Flyers' "defenseman" but recovered the puck behind the net, soared around to the opposite side, and buried it on the back hand to seal the deal.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left Philadelphia.

Final Score: Pittsburgh 5 Philthadelphia 3

"Keep your star of the game nominations, I'll take our 2nd Round Playoff Berth"

Series: 4-2 Pittsburgh Wins

- If you're looking for a good photo-op in Philadelphia this week, be sure to check out all the local golf courses.

- The NBC crew got increasingly quieter with each goal the Penguins' scored, and was virtually silent after Gonchar gave them the lead early in the third period. What a feeling.

- To the Flyers, their fanbase, and their supporters: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

- To Daniel Carcillo: Thanks for the series, joke.

- See you in Round Two.

Let's GO Pens

Pens-Flyers Game 5: Somebody Get Boucher a Cheese Steak

You hear people talking about "pointing the finger" after a team loses a big game. Right now, we'd much rather give the finger than point it.

This one's for you, Philippe.

Apparently Kris Letang suffered an injury in Game 4 and was kept out of the lineup in Game 5 tonight. He was replaced by Philippe Boucher.

Sure, the Pens could have capitalized on one of their four power plays, or found a way to beat Marty Biron, but Boucher's failure to clear the puck out of his own zone before the Giroux goal and his inability to get the puck deep into the Flyers' zone before the Knuble goal sure didn't help.

Bobby Boucher makes those plays with his eyes closed... So does Kris Letang.

The Pens came out firing in the first period, trying to get an early start on pounding the final nail in the Flyers' coffin.

If there was ever a time the phrase "weathering a storm" applied, it was the first period of this hockey game.

Biron made some big saves, but the Pens' third line kept coming, possessing the puck in the offensive zone and generating solid scoring chances every time they hit the ice.

Mike Richards got a chance to put the Flyers ahead early in the period, but his initial attempt was thwarted by Fleury, and his second chance sailed wide of the net. What a leader.

Richards teamed up with some other joke to sandwich Sidney Crosby in the corner on the next shift. What a captain.

Crosby responded by exposing Kimmo Timonen as the average defenseman he really is by inside-outing Timonen all the way down the ice, but Toast was there to make the save.

The Flyers got a power play, and their final shot of the period around the nine minute mark.

The Pens' top line turned in an unreal shift near the end of the period, but neither Chris Kunitz nor Bill Guerin could put one of Crosby's perfectly placed passes past Biron. Alliteration 101 in that last sentence.

At the end of the same shift, Crosby beats Bernie Parent to a spot on the ice and draws the penalty. Sid wins that battle for open ice every time, what a terrible defensive play by Bernie.

The Pens fired five shots on the ensuing power play, and Crosby won four faceoffs, two of them against Mike Richards. What a penalty killer.

Richards got a shorthanded opportunity near the end of the penalty, but couldn't get a good shot away. What a puck handler.

What a shirt. Of course I'm talking about Mike Richards.

The period ended, with the Pens carrying the play, and leading on the shot clock by a 15 to five margin.

Crosby was 6-0 in the faceoff circle in the first period. Too bad faceoffs don't win hockey games. Whooooooooooo.

The second period started and.............

Due to some badass hail and a lightning strike in Atlanta, Georgia (the headquarters of Fox Sports Network), FSN lost its' feed for almost the entire second period of the game.

Before the shock wore off and you realized to go turn Mike Lange on the radio, Arron Asham snuck a shot past Fleury to give the Flyers the lead.

Judging by the replay version of the goal, this was a shot Fleury probably should have stopped. Then again, he just stopped 45 of them in the last game, so where is the goal support?

The Pens thought they had found that goal support when Sergei Gonchar fired a puck toward the net and it deflected in off of Malkin's skate.

The play was reviewed and the goal was disallowed, as it was ruled that the puck entered the net as a result of a kicking motion off the foot of Evgeni Malkin.

FSN regained consciousness in the third period, just in time for John Stevens to slip Philippe Boucher a few crisp Benjamin Franklins as he skated past the Flyers' bench.

Boucher responded to the bribe with the weakest attempt at clearing a puck out of the defensive zone in the history of professional hockey.

You can get away with these kinds of plays in Dallas, but this ain't the Western Conference, Jack.

The Flyers made him pay for the mistake as Giroux scored his second goal of the playoffs to make it 2-0 Philly with 16 minutes to go.

The Pens pushed, well kind of, for the next 10 minutes, but it was easy to see that it just wasn't there tonight. Whatever "it" is, the Penguins didn't have it.

Boucher handed the Flyers another insurance goal around the 13 minute mark when he pinched a few feet inside the blue line to hold the puck in the Flyers' zone, but instead of banging it deep, he halfheartedly chipped it down the boards, where Matt Carle quickly turned it the other way.

Knuble picked up the garbage, but Richards started the play by firing a hard shot to the leg pads of Fleury, looking to create a rebound. What a human.

That was it. The Pens threw their weight around late in the game and took a couple of penalties out of frustration.

Fleury should not be falted in any way shape or form for this loss. If you think Fleury had anything to do with the outcome of this game, kill yourself.

Biron turned aside all 28 shots he faced to pick up the shutout. You don't get a shutout in an NHL playoff game if you aren't playing some good hockey, but bullet proof vests have been more agile while stopping shots than Biron had to be tonight.

Flyer fans will claim they are "back in the series" after this win, just as they did after their victory in Game 3.

Penguin fans will claim they only need to win one out of two games while the Flyers need to win two out of two.

Some people will claim that Mike Richards is not a great leader and captain. Those people are pathetic excuses for competent human beings and should be ashamed of themselves.

Whatever claim you make, your claim, like ours, means absolutely nothing.

The only thing that matters now is when these two teams hit the ice on Saturday afternoon at the Wajokeia Center to play Game 6 of this series.

Until then, Let's Go Pens.

Pens-Flyers Game 5: Sykora Out, Satan In, Letang Questionable

Pittsburghpenguins.com has announced that Petr Sykora will be a healthy scratch for tonight's Game Five against the Philadelphia Flyers at Mellon Arena.

Veteran winger Miroslav Satan, who rejoined the Penguins after a late season stint in the AHL, will replace Sykora in the lineup.

Head Coach Dan Bylsma assured the media that "the decision we made was not based on injuries."

Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang, who suffered a minor injury late in Game Four, will be a game time decision for Game Five.

If Letang is unable to go, he will be replaced be fellow right hand shooting defenseman Phillippe Boucher.

Sykora, who has failed to register a point in the playoffs despite several solid scoring chances, and spending the majority of his time on the ice on Evgeni Malkin's wing, struggled during the final 10 games of the regular season, scoring just one goal against the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning during the stretch run.

Although Satan practiced on the second line with Geno and Ruslan Fedotenko, Bylsma will surely try a number of different combinations to flank Malkin during tonight's contest.

The Penguins have called for a "Whiteout" for Game Five and will be handing out white t-shirts to all fans in attendance at the gates of the Igloo.

Lastly, Game Five will be shown on the big screen outside of the Mellon Arena, much to the chagrin of the jokes at NBC, so if you're heading down for the game, we'll see you there.

Let's Go Pens.

Pens-Flyers Game 4: Marc-Andre Phleury

Unless you are Martin Biron or Jose Theodore, you have heard people say that a goaltender can “steal a game”. When it happens on the road, it’s a big deal.

When it happens in the playoffs, it’s an even bigger deal.

When it happens on the road in the playoffs in a pivotal game four of a best-of-seven game series, it’s huge.

Marc-Andre Fleury turned in that kind of huge performance in Philthadelphia during Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The Flower turned in a 45 save effort to lead the Penguins to a 3-1 victory and give them the opportunity to close out the series with a win on Thursday night in front of their home crowd in Pittsburgh.

The only deterrent to a shutout for Fleury, of which he had two during last season’s push to the Stanley Cup Finals, was a third period goal by Daniel Carjokeo.

The Penguins didn’t play particularly well in Game Four. They were out shot, out hit, and largely out played by the Flyers.

Whether or not they, as a team, played better than the Flyers is debatable, but such a debate would be pointless considering they came out victorious in the game.

The point is, Game Four showed us that the Penguins can pick up a big win in a sub par overall team effort, and one man can be responsible for such a win: Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury showed his usual flashes of brilliance during the game, making the sprawling saves, stretching his leg pads post-to-post, and even losing his lid while thwarting a crease-crashing effort by the Flyers to even the game at two late in the third.

However, his rebound control and vision of the puck were perhaps more impressive than his patented Superman-like saves.

The Flyers had little to no second chance opportunities, which is a reflection of Fleury’s rebound control, but also the solid play of his defensemen in front of the net.

Sergei Gonchar, who was a minus-3 in Game Three, turned his fortunes around by playing exceptionally well in front of the net and showing the veteran responsibility that was absent on the Penguins’ blue line for much of the regular season.

Sidney Crosby, who apparently “sucks” in Philthadelphia, lived up to his reputation of scoring big goals in big games when he drove the net hard and directed a cross-ice pass from Chris Kunitz past French Toast to open the scoring in the game.

It is mind-boggling that Flyers’ fans waste so much time, energy, and opportunities to energize their own team by engaging in a chant of “Crosby sucks,” which is directed by their repetitively dull and predictable organist. Vince Lascheid likely rolled over in his grave while listening to the joke at the Wachovia Center playing the same two melodies over and over for 60 minutes.

Chanting is a big part of crowd participation at hockey games, but Philthadelphia, who plays rap music during their pre-game warm-ups, takes the chanting to a puzzling new level.

Let’s forget supporting our own team in their efforts to erase a two goal deficit and direct an overwhelming majority of our collect voice as fans toward trying to get inside the head of a guy who has been owning us in the playoffs and regular season for the past three years. Welcome to Philadelphia.

Tyler Kennedy, who has been playing some unreal hockey during this season on the Penguins’ third line, scored his second goal of this post-season, and the second playoff goal of his career, after taking a great pass from Matt Cooke and beating the Toast to make it 2-0 Pens.

The Flyers pushed hard for rest of the game, but Fleury stood tall.

The Carcillo goal aside, the Flower turned away every shot the Flyers threw at him and Max Talbot added an empty netter in the dying seconds of the game to give the Pens a 3-1 lead in the game, and the series.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left Philthadelphia.

Game Five will commence on Thursday night in Pittsburgh, where the Pens will look to dispose of the Flyers in the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

- How Daniel Briere is still a member of an NHL roster is unfathomable. For a guy who, at least at one time in his career, was considered an elite NHL talent and one of the best clutch performers in the game, he has been overshadowed by guys like Darroll Powe and Claude Giroux.

Let's Go Pens

Pens-Flyers Game 3: NBC Embarrasses Itself During Flyer Victory

Here's to you, NBC

We can confidently state that the product which has been delivered by NBC during the opening week of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs is by far the most embarrassing, most unprofessional, overall lowest grade product to ever hit national television.

If you have a pulse, and are not from New Jersey or Philadelphia, we would deem it physically impossible for you to admit to enjoying a hockey game broadcast by NBC.

It began with NBC's coverage of Game Two of the Washington Capitals-New York Rangers series on Saturday afternoon.

The Rangers took the Capitals to school during Game One and came out as the unlikely, and unsuspected victors. Henrik Lundqvist made more saves than an 25 year Emergency Room veteran.

So, one would think that NBC would offer up some praise for the Rangers, who salvaged their playoff hopes during the final weeks of the regular season and defeated the third seeded Capitals in commanding fashion, right?

Wrong. Pierre Maguire, Mike Milbury, Doc Emrick, and Eddie Oljoke followed their regular season game plan of holding a two-and-a-half hour circle jerk for Alexander Ovechkin.

Game Two of the series saw another Ranger victory, and even more ignorance of the Rangers' solid team effort in favor of the Big Russian Machine or whatever Ovechjoke refers to himself as.

Alright so jobbing the Rangers is one thing, but how would things turn out when the NHL's leading scorer and his "poster boy of the league" teammate hit the ice on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia?

Even worse is the answer I'm looking for.

Evgeni Malkin potted two goals and kept the Penguins' hope of a three game advantage in the series alive until virtually the final two minutes of regulation.

The Flyers outplayed the Penguins, plain and simple. If we were Flyers' fans, the next 12 paragraphs would be about how the officiating was extremely one-sided and the Flyers got all the calls in the game because they were on their home ice, but I'm not, so let me reiterate, the Penguins were outplayed, and beaten by a team who turned in a better overall effort.

The Flyers are not back in the series. They are still down two games to one. A win on Tuesday night ensures that they are back in the series, so until that happens, the Pens are still in control.

That being said, how did NBC's all-star cast respond?

By simply mentioning that Geno led the league in scoring during the regular season and is a shoe-in finalist for the Hart Trophy? Nope.

Instead, Pierre Maguire led a collaborative 60 minute "Mike Richards is God" session.

Now before you jump the gun and claim that we are so blindly biased toward the Penguins that we refuse to acknowledge talented players outside of Pittsburgh, let us state that Mike Richards is a hell of a hockey player.

The fact that a solid home-ice performance in a virtually must-win game for Philadelphia completely overshadowed everything that the Penguins did right during the game, and in the previous two, was embarrassing.

Furthermore, if Mike Emrick is a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster, Stevie Wonder painted the Mona Lisa.

If you are a sports fan with a newly-acquired taste for professional hockey and tuned in to NBC for the game today, we feel sorry for you, because you will likely never watch another NHL game when Mike Emrick is in the booth. Or at least you won't watch it with the sound on.

Eddie Olcyzk's "analysis" fails to ever extend beyond pointing out the obvious and offers little to no insight into the rules of hockey, or even what is happening on the ice. We'd say Edzo should have stuck with coaching, but we all know how that career choice turned out.

If you look up "goon" in the dictionary, a photograph of Mike Milbury is likely printed directly following Arron Asham.

The NBC crew spends more time offering their respective opinions about how they would coach, officiate, or play the game than they do actually announcing it, which, at least we're pretty sure, is a fairly large part of their job description.

Kimmo Timonen would be a top-four defenseman on any roster in the National Hockey League. The fact that he averages somewhere in the ballpark of 27 to 28 minutes of ice time per game means nothing more than that his coaching staff trusts him in virtually all situations.

Emrick took the liberty of reminding viewers of Timonen's average time on ice roughly five times during the course of this afternoon's game. Why?

Mike Richards is obviously regarded as the best hockey player in the world by the NBC crew. He is praised for "working hard on every shift, back checking, killing penalties, playing the power play, and being a great leader".

You can find a player on every roster in the NHL who does the same things on a nightly basis, but 29 other teams cease to exist during an NBC broadcast.

Maguire developed a hefty hemorrhoid sometime during the second period, when, after a commercial break, Pierre ranted for 45 seconds about Mike Richards talking to his teammates and drinking water on the bench during the television timeout.

Malkin scored his second goal of the game, but Richards just re-laced his skates in seven seconds on the bench. See where we're going with this?

Now, we could cite various other examples from today's game, the Caps-Rangers game, or every other game broadcast by NBC this season, but you get the point.

NBC recently prevented the Pittsburgh Penguins from showing Game Three on their outdoor jumbo screen, located outside of the Mellon Arena, because they were obviously worried about their ratings.

The strange this is, the screen was in full operation throughout the duration of the Penguins' 2008 Stanley Cup playoff run.

Attendance averages between one and two thousand people.

Apparently those 2,000 people who wouldn't be tuning in to NBC in their own homes to watch the game would have been too big a blow to the ratings to allow the Penguins to air the game on the outdoor screen.

If NBC is worried about its' ratings, maybe they should consider their lead announcer's "rebel yell" style of broadcasting, their color analysts lack on intellect, and their between the benches guy's obvious bias toward whichever team has and advantage on the scoreboard, or Alex Ovechkin on its' roster.

Give us Bob and Steiggy or Mike Lange and the Old Two-Niner any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

Let's Go Pens

Pens-Flyers Game One: Mar-ty, Mar-ty, Mar-ty

A bottle of Maple Syrup might be hard to come by tomorrow morning in Pittsburgh. The Penguins started the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals with a bang by pouring the metaphorical Maple Syrup all over Martin French Toast Biron tonight at the Igloo.

If you were watching the game from outside of the Western Pennsylvania area, we feel sorry for you. Not because you didn't get to hear Bob Errey bash the Flyers all night, but because you likely had to listen to whichever jokes VERSUS supplied in the commentators' booth talking about what an amazing human being/captain Mike Richards is and how Kimmo Timonen is the best defenseman in the National Hockey League.

Richards hit three posts in the game tonight. Real captains make those shots count in the playoffs.

Richards also blew a two-on-one scoring chance in the first period when Mark Eaton made a terrific play to break up the centering pass. Real captains find a way to get that puck through.

Real captains/team leaders have also never played in the city of Philadelphia. Just ask Donovan McNabb.

Recap

After Jeff Jimerson once again energized the Igloo for the start of a huge game, the opening minutes of this hockey game seemed about as far away from playoff hockey as you can get.

Then the Penguins third line hit the ice and possessed the puck down low in the offensive zone for what seemed like an entire period.

Chris Kunitz, who just became the proud father of a baby boy this morning, came flying into the zone and sent Kimmo Orr-Timonen into orbit.

Kunitz kept rolling into the corner where he introduced Ryan Parent to the boards of the ageless Mellon. If you aren't from Philadelphia and you know who Ryan Parent is, you are alone.

Arron Asham did what he does in hockey games; took a penalty.

The Pens' power play hit the ice for the first time and Sergei Gonchar didn't waste any time in firing pucks at the net.

One such shot ricocheted off the end boards where Evgeni Malkin coralled it and centered a pass to Sidney Crosby streaking toward the front of the net.

Sid kicked the puck up to his stick, rung the puck off the post, and Toast helped it along to give the Pens the early advantage.

The play was reviewed in Toronto and they deemed that Sid did indeed get the tip of his blade on the loose puck after kicking it forward to his stick.

The Flyers and their fans won't like the call. Maybe the Flyers should learn how to box out in front of their goaltender when they're shorthanded. 1-0 Pens.

The Pens' fourth line hit the ice after the power play and continued to carry the play. Max Talbot got an opportunity off of a nice feed from Pascal Dupuis, but the shot trickled through Biron and wide of the net.

Scott Hartnell, Andrew Alberts, and Matt Cooke all went to the box a couple of minutes later, in an obvious even-up situation.

The Flyers killed off the penalty, but the Pens' third line hit the ice again and kept the Flyers bottled up in their own zone.

Rob Scuderi dumped some joke on his head with a solid hip check.

What a defenseman.

The Flyers' first legitimate scoring chance of the game came on a two-on-one led by Richards.

Mark Eaton made an unreal play to prevent Richards' centering pass attempt from getting through to his teammate. Real captains make that play happen.

Hartnell ran over Fleury in the goal crease, leading to another Penguin power play, but they came up empty.

After the penalty was killed off, Brooks Orpik destroyed Hartnell behind the Pens' net to bring the first period to a screeching halt with the Penguins leading 1-0.

Someday, Chris Kunitz will show his new baby boy the footage of his performance in the first period of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Zachary will be in awe. What an effort.

The Flyers mounted virtually no offense in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Pens picked up in the second period where they left off in the first: looking for an insurance goal.

The third line hit the ice again and generated a three-on-one rush up the ice after a Braydon Coburn turnover in the neutral zone. Tyler Kennedy was the puck carrier and he froze the Flyers' defenseman, Biron, a cotton candy vendor, and likely Mike Emrick's voice box, then delivered a quick wrist shot through the five hole to make it 2-0 Pens.

That's how you execute an odd-man-rush. Watch and learn, Richards.

The Pens got another power play when Alberts tripped someone, but nothing doing.

Things started to pick up after the penalty to Albets. Jordan Staal and Craig Adams put in a solid shift in the offensive zone, hitting anything that moved.

Gonchar threw a body into Daniel Brie-where? at the blue line.

Gordie Hal Gill was unreal tonight. He hasn't played a bad game in three months.

The rest of the second period was a tight checking affair, ending with the teams combining for just 10 shots on goal.

The Flyers came alive with 30 seconds remaining in the period, but Orpik turned in "The Shift V. 2.0" and racked up four hits and an elbowing penalty that would put the Flyers on the power play to start the third.

Gary Bettman and his uneven eyebrows joined Paul Steigerwald in the Penguins' press box during the second intermission. As you can imagine, not much happened during that conversation between two of the biggest jokes in the hockey world.

The Pens killed the rest of the penalty off to start the third and the Flyers looked deflated.

Mike Knuble forgot his team was down by two goals and tried to send a pass around the net using the boards.

It's hard to say if his angle was worse than Biron's attempt to play the puck off the boards, but however it happened, Geno got the loose puck in front of the net, danced around Biron, and slipped the puck into a gaping cage. 3-0 Pens.

The Flyers generated their second decent scoring chance of the game when Jeff Carter fired a shot on Fleury and followed it to the net looking for a rebound.

He got the rebound, but Marc-Andre Fleury made a superhuman play to get the paddle down and rob Carter of a goal.

10 minutes into the third, Crosby won a huge faceoff in the offensive zone, Kris Letang slid the puck to the opposite point to Mark Eaton and he fired it past French Toast to extend the Pens' lead to four goals.

Flyers fans will undoubtedly talk about the officiating in this game, because that's just what they do. The Flyers had three power plays in the last eight minutes of the game.

Richards hit another post, joke, and Gagne cleaned up the trash to get the Cryers on the board. 4-1 Pens.

Fleury stood tall the rest of the way, but not surprisingly, the Flyers started taking liberties late in the game to try to make up for their subpar effort in the previous 59 minutes.

Alberts and Asham, who has to be Chinese, went to the box for slashing and roughing, respectively.

On the faceoff that started the power play, Parent took a whack at Staal's ankles then cross-checked him in the back.

That earned him a trip to the box, where he made out with Alberts and Asham for the remainder of regulation time.

Having not had enough yet, Coburn took a whack at Billy Guerin on the next faceoff, and Guerin decided enough was enough.

The laundry came off and Guerin dragged Coburn to the ice, in what was more of a "we just beat your ass, stop taking cheap shots" than a fight.

Hartnell received a 10-minute misconduct for having a horrendous haircut.

The Pens held on for seven more seconds and ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has boastfully left the building.

Final Score: Pittsburgh 4 Filthadelphia 1
Series: 1-0 Pittsburgh

- Did Daniel Briere even play tonight? Talk about a great disappearing act, Briere still hasn't shown up for last year's Eastern Conference Finals, let alone Game One tonight.

- Someone please tell me who Ryan Parent is?

- Marty Biron. whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Let's Go Pens

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Preview- Pens vs. Flyers

It's no secret that the Penguins-Flyers rivalry is not only one of the biggest rivalries in hockey, it is one of the biggest rivalries in the world.

It even gives Mr. Draft Dodger himself the shakes. whoooooooooo.

"The Battle of Pennsylvania" is a phrase made up by someone who probably got rich off of it, but what else can you call this inner-state match up?

The Flyers had a chance to clinch home ice this past weekend, but not surprisingly, they choked.

There are tons of great match ups you could talk about in this series.

The Pens' revamped power play vs. the Flyers top ranked penalty kill. Sidney Crosby vs. Mike Richards, which has developed into quite the on-ice feud over the past two seasons.

You could talk about Scott Hartnell, but why waste your time?

Milan Kraft scores 30 goals playing with Carter and Lupul, take that to the bank.

You could talk about the Flyers not winning a Stanley Cup since the mid-70's or about the Pens eliminating them from last year's playoff picture in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals after the Flyers prevailed over the Pens in 1989, 1997, and 2000.

You could even talk about Kimmo Timonen, but Mike Emrick and Joe Beninati will do enough of that for all of us on national television, so save your breath.

You might even debate whether or not either team will use its' enforcer during the series. Riley Cote and Eric Godard have had their share of heavyweight bouts in recent history, and you could wonder if the laundry will come off during this series, something that is extremely rare in the playoffs.

You could wonder if the Penguins' deadline acquistions of Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams will be enough to replace what was obviously missing from the early season lineup.

You might even wonder if Evgeni Malkin will continue his regular season on-ice dominance once the playoffs begin.

You can make all the predictions, guesses, hypotheses, and bets that you want.

Or you could take a look at Martin Biron and realize that the Flyers aren't going anywhere, this year, or next, or the following, with French Toast minding their net.

Biron is a below average goaltender playing on an above average team. His weaknesses were masked for much of the regular season, due to some solid spot starts from Nittymaki, an excellent penalty killing unit in front of him, and well, just flat out luck.

If the playoffs are famous for one thing, it's exposing weaknesses, and ladies and gentlemen, Martin Biron is the Flyers' weakness.

Is he their only weakness? Probably not. Will he steal a game for his team? Most likely.

The fact of the matter is that Martin Biron will not suffice to thwart the Penguins' attack.

This is not a prediction, nor is it a Guerin-tee, it is simply a recitation of facts.

Special teams will be the key to this playoff series. If the Pens can come out on the winning end of the special team battle, their chances of advancing to the next round will increase 100-fold.

Keep in mind that a seven game series is not won in one game.

If there's anything we all should have learned from last year's playoffs, it is that a playoff series can take years off of your life.

This year will be no different. We will celebrate victory, sulk in defeat, be on top of the world, and on the bottom of the barrel, and it will begin in a matter of less than 48 hours.

Hang on tight, put away your razor, and think of every possible way you can harass every Flyers' fan you know after a big win, keeping in mind that they are about to do the same thing to you.

The playoffs are here, and it truly is A Great Day for Hockey.

LET'S GO PENS

Congratulations Evgeni Malkin 2008-09 Art Ross Trophy Winner

With a goal in the final game of the regular season, Evgeni Malkin locked up the 2008-09 Art Ross Trophy.

He became the 4th Penguin in franchise history to win the coveted award, preceded by Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, and Mario Lemieux.

Geno played in all 82 regular season games for the Penguins this season, registering 35 goals, 78 assists, and 113 points.

He was a plus-17 on the season and also led the league with 56 points on the road.

With the win in Montreal, the Penguins secured themselves a first round matchup against the Philthadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Pens will await the result of the Rangers-Flyers game on Sunday afternoon before knowing if they will have home-ice advantage in the first round. A Flyers loss would give the Pens' the 4th seed in the East, and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Malkin beat out fellow countryman and joke Alexander Ovechkin by 3 points to win the first scoring title of his career.

You have to believe that the Hart Trophy voting will be extremely close this year. All you can do is cross your fingers and pull for Geno.

It's been a hell of a ride, and the staff here at E.T.E. would like to extend our sincerest gratitudes for all of our readers during the regular season and we hope that you all will remain with us during the upcoming playoff weeks.

Put your razors away, grow your playoff beards or leg hair for our female readers, and hang on tight cause it's going to be one hell of a finish.

The playoffs are a whole different beast. If you don't know that already, well, we're not sure why you're even reading this.

So until Wednesday, get in the fast lane grandma, the bingo game is ready to roll.

Let's Go Pens.

Let the Playoff Beard Growing Begin. Pens Clinch in Tampa.

It wasn't easy, but what has been this season?

The Pens finally locked up a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning last night in Florida.

Crosby had a pair of PPGs, Petr Sykora returned from exile to get the elusive 300th goal of his career, and Geno added a pair of helpers.

Ryan Malone broke his hand. Probably from banging on his head as the images of him playing in the playoffs ever again slowly slipped away.

Every team ahead of the Pens in the standings is winning on a regular basis so talking about possible seeding in the East right now would be a joke.

Pens are in, that's all that matters.

After you eat Ham or whatever you eat on Easter this Sunday, get the playoff beard going. And for our female readers, don't shave your legs/armpits or whatever for a couple of months.

Let's Go Pens

Flamingos. Pens Fail to Clinch Playoff Berth in Florida

As soon as FSN opened its' telecast of the game with a shot of a bunch of flamingos chilling outside of the arena in Florida, you knew you were in for two and a half of the gayest hours of your life.

Tomas Vokoun didn't disappoint. 2 games this weekend, 2 unreal performances by goaltenders who are looking to put their subpar hockey teams' playoff hopes on their shoulders and get to the promised land.

Bottom line, whoever gets Florida or Carolina in the 1st round of the playoffs only needs to worry about 1 positional player: the goaltender.

Geno was held scoreless for the 2nd game in a row. OVugly had 2 points today, putting him within 4 of Malkin in the race for the Ross.

From here on out, it's win and you're in for the Pens.

Considering they've got two games against the cellar-dwellers of the Eastern Conference coming up, you'd like to think they'll have a playoff berth clinched before the middle of next week.

However, Tampa will probably call up some guy from the ECHL and he'll make 50 saves in a 2-1 victory and Richard Park will score 7 goals to propel the Isles past the Pens on fan appreciation night at the Mellon, because let's face it, after all the ups and downs of this season, would you really expect anything less?

To top it all off, tomorrow is Monday. Balls.

Don't count your chickens before you make scrambled eggs or something like that.

Let's Go Pens.

Hines Ward Stuns Penguins in Overtime Loss

It's not often that you can call a 3-2 game a goaltending duel. Tonight was one of those occassions.

Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 27 of 30 shots in the game.

But, the Flower was outdone by his net-minding counterpart, Cam Ward, who stopped 33 of 35 shots, including a stoning of Evgeni Malkin on a penalty shot, to lead the Canes to their 11th consecutive home victory, and their 8th victory in a row.

The Pens dominated the first 15 minutes of the game. Tyler Kennedy is playing some of the best hockey of his life right now (an excellent sign heading into the post-season) and buried a sick backhander less than 6 minutes into the game.

The Canes scored the next two goals and Ward blanked the Pens through the second period.

TK made a sick play to chip the puck around a defenseman and find J. Staal coming late for the big slap shot that evened the game at two.

Malkin what seemed like his 56th penalty shot opportunity of the season, but not surprisingly, didn't score.

The game headed to OT, where, as much as it pains us to say, the Canes just wanted the win more.

The puck never left the Canes zone in the OT period, until Anton Babsuck eventually blew a heavy slapper past MAF to give the Canes the extra point, and clinch a playoff berth.

The Rangers and Flyers both lost today, so the Pens didn't really lose any ground tonight.

Andrei Markov was injured during the Habs' game and could potentially be gone for the season. AK27 is playing unreal right now, but a Habs' lineup without (potentially) Markov and Schneider on the blue line doesn't look very promising.

Big game tomorrow afternoon/evening in Florida. The Panthers are looking to get back into the playoff picture with a win, while the Pens are looking to keep pace with the Canes in the battle for the 4th/5th/6th seed in the East.

The Bruins clinched the #1 seed in the East by shutting out the Rags today.

If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Pens would get the Devils. Just sayin'...

Let's Go Pens.

Martin Who? Pens 6 Devils 1

The only thing that has chased Marty Brodeur more than the Pittsburgh Penguins in recent history is his sister-in-law's husband.

The Pens once again embarrassed the "greatest goaltender in hockey history" by potting six goals en route to their 13th victory in the last 16 games.

The Devils had lost five in a row coming into tonight's contest in the icy confines of the Mellon Arena, so you knew they were going to come out hard early on.

A John Madden pancake block, I mean hi-sticking penalty, put the Devils' early pressure to rest just three minutes into the game.

The Pens came up empty on the power play, but Dan Bylsma threw out a makeshift line combination of Matt Cooke-Max Talbot-Ruslan Fedotenko after the man advantage had ended.

The three role players responded by doing what they're supposed to do in order to earn their paycheck from the National Hockey League: getting the puck deep and going to work.

Talbot worked the puck out of the corner to the front of the net where Cookie slipped a sneaky backhander between the pillows of Brojoke to give the Pens an early one goal advantage.

36 second later, Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz set up a nice give-and-go at the Devils blue line. Kunitz dropped the puck back to his line mate and the Bad Ass Billy Guerin beat Brodeur over the shoulder to give the Pens the worst lead in hockey, 2-0.

A couple of minutes later, Brian Gionta built a camp fire in the Penguins' crease, camped out, woke up in the morning, and snuck a puck past Marc-Andre Fleury to pull the Devils to within one.

You could have vomited at the visions of a 3-2 Devils' victory running through your head.

Jamie Langenbrunner hooked up someone and the Pens' power play hit the ice once again.

Sergei Gonchar made a sick play to hold the puck in at the Devils' blue line and Evgeni Malkin scooped up the loose biscuit on the half wall.

Geno waited with the patience of a member of the Sutter family in the family reunion buffet line, snuck into the high slot and wristed the puck through Brojoke to re-establish the Pens' two goal lead.

Near the end of the period, Dainus Zubrus forgot how to keep his head up in the neutral zone and ran into the hip of Brooks Orpik.

Apparently the clean hit was ruled to be away from the puck and Orpik was awarded two minutes for interference. Fine. But the extra two minutes for roughing, are you serious?

Zubrus took exception to the hit and gave Brooks a facewash after the whistle, to which Brooks responded by telling him to recruit a defenseman who doesn't leave his forwards hanging out to dry in the neutral zone with the NHL's biggest hitting defenseman on the ice.

The Pens killed off the Orpik penalty to start the second period, and got right back to work.

Midway through the period, Mike Rupp went off for roughing and the power play hit the ice again.

Gonch slid the puck to the left point to Kris Letang, who kept his head up and fired a perfectly placed slap-pass to the front of the net.

The puck found the right skate of Crosby, and then tickled the twine behind Martin Short to extend the Pens' lead to three goals.

Before Brodeur had a chance to re-engage in his absent-minded fantasies of banging his sister-in-law, Ruslan Fedotenko fired a puck off of his left pad and Jordan Staal picked up the garbage in front of the net making it 5-1 Pens.

Brent Sutter called a timeout to ask Brodeur if he wanted to stay in the game. Apparently he did. Wrong choice.

After the TO, Rob Scuderi sent Zubrus head over heels with a solid hip check just inside the Pens' blue line. This was the third time Zubrus was the victim of an embarrassing check, but it wouldn't be the last.

At the end of the period, Orpik blew a tire behind the Pens' net while chasing down a loose puck. He slid across the ice to the far boards, where Bobby Jokelik took the liberty of introducing his shin pad to Brooks' chin.

Orpik and Holik exchanged words, as did David Clarkson and Crosby, but what came next might have been more embarrassing than the league's "best goaltender of all-time" cheating on his wife with her sister.

Devils' coach Brent Sutter came out to center ice and got in the face of two officials, a beer vendor, and Iceburgh. Sutter's efforts were rewarded with a two minute misconduct penalty, and an even more absent enthusiasm from his team in the third period.

Holik is the dirtiest player in the National Hockey League, hands down. Why is it that Eric Godard seems to be scratched for every Devils game?

And he looks like Spock

After the intermission, the Devils came back out on the ice to skate around for 20 minutes. The Pens came back out to finish the game strong.

Bylsma was chewing guys out for not backchecking hard enough in a 5-1 hockey game. What a coach.

The early period power play was erased by a roughing call on Crosby for toppling over Brodeur. Whatever.

Seven minutes into the period, Sid gained the blue line and just threw the puck toward the net. So much for rebound control from the "league's best goaltender". Brodeur coughed up a fat rebound and Pascal Dupuis tapped the puck to Kunitz in front of the net.

Kunitz buried it for his 23rd goal of the season, and the Pens coasted to victory.

Malkin layed a solid shoulder check into Zubrus, sending the big man on his back pocket for the fourth time in the game.

Geno also capped off another great end-to-end performance by adding three takeaways to his league leading total. Ovechkin doesn't even backcheck, let alone create turnovers.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.

Final Score: Pens 6 Devils 1

- Fedotenko only played just over eight minutes in the game tonight and we can't remember seeing him on the ice in the third period. Anyone know what the story is there?

- How Zach Parise has scored over 40 goals this season became even more evident tonight, the Devils have no one else even remotely capable of creating offense.

- Flower stopped 24 of 25 shots. He hasn't played a bad game since sometime in January.

- Max Talbot picked up another assist tonight. He has really elevated his game over the past couple of weeks, a good sign for the Penguins' depth chart heading into the playoffs.

- The Flyers lost tonight, putting the Penguins' in a virtual tie for fourth place. Philthadelphia still holds a game in hand over the Pens.

- Huge weekend coming up with games against the Canes and Panthers.

- Has anyone seen Petr Sykora lately? If so, please tell him the Stanley Cup playoffs start in two weeks and he is still a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins' roster.

- Brendan Shanahan needs to retire.

- The Devils will not make it out of the first round of the playoffs. Take that to the bank.

- Mike Emrick, your thoughts?

"No comment."

Let's Go Pens

The Devil Came Down to Pittsburgh, He Was Lookin' for a Soul to Steal

For the sake of E.T.E. tradition, and in honor of a huge Atlantic Division matchup tonight at the Igloo...

(To the tune of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band)

Well the Devils came down to Pittsburgh
They were lookin' for some points to steal
They were in a bind, 5 straight losses on their mind
And they were willin' to make a deal
They came upon this Blooming Flower
Playin' goalie, and playin' it hot
Then Geno jumped up on a hickory stump
Said, Marty lemme tell you what
"I'm sure you already knew it
'Cause I'm a hockey player too
And if you care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you
Now you play pretty good hockey, boy
But give the Penguins their due
I'll bet a Jay Pandolfo goal
Against your soul
Just to think we're better than you"

Then a boy said, "my name's Parise
And it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet
Though I'm gonna regret
'Cause tonight, the Pens will win"

So Danny rousin' up your bench
And change those 4 lines hard
'Cause hell's broke loose in Pittsburgh
And the Devils hold the cards
And if you win, you're closer to that banner in black and gold
But if you lose, the Devils have control

The Devils opened up the gate and said "We'll start this show"
Then Elias flew in on a breakaway, but yeah, he still blows
He pulled the puck across the ice and it made an evil hiss
Then all 12 Devil fans joined in and it sounded somethin' like this

(Silence overtakes the microphone)

When the Devils finished, Godard said "well you're pretty good 'ol sons"
"But if you drop the gloves with me, you'd be better off to run"

Fire at The Igloo, run boys, run
Look, it's Marty's illegitimate son
Chickens in the locker room, pickin' their toes
Hey we got a powerplay, Go Sarge Go

The Devils bowed their heads because they knew that they'd been beat
Then they layed those 2 division points on the ground at Mike Yeo's feet
Kunitz said "Devils just come on back if you ever wanna try again"
"I done told you once, you sons of a bitch, our forecheck always wins"

Fire at The Igloo, run boys, run
Look, it's Marty's illegitimate son
Chickens in the locker room, pickin' their toes
Like they say in Canada, "GO PENS GO"

Let's Go Pens