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Penguins Are Now a Team to Fear
by Alanah McGinley on 03/18/09 at 02:11 PM ET
Comments (12)
From Bill Clement at NBC Sports:
These are not the Penguins of the start of the season. They are not the Penguins of the turn of the year. They’re not even the Penguins of last month.
These are the Penguins to now fear. A new coach, a couple of key trades, and a return from injury by a key player have worked wonders for the team, and its captain, Sidney Crosby.
Pittsburgh is kicking tail and taking names. Starting with their last two games in February, and running through their March 17 meeting with Atlanta, the Penguins had won seven of nine, and their two losses in that stretch were shootout losses.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: sidney+crosby,
Comments
Can’t dispute that the Penguins are one of the hottest teams in the league right now. Crosby’s clicking with his new linemates, and Malkin’s continuing an awesome pace. 8-0-2 is pretty good over their last ten if you ask me—no NHL marketing needed!
Posted by penguinsfan on 03/18/09 at 02:54 PM ET
Wow, and I thought Bettman’s love for his baby boy was bad. Clement brings his NAMBLA-like obsession with Thid to a whole other level. He deserves a spot in the Jack for that “article”.
Posted by WingsFanInBeanLand from Lidstrom's head telling him 1 more year on 03/18/09 at 04:50 PM ET
The thing with Clement is that he is a former Flyer who does several games a year as the color guy for the Flyers, and lives outside philly (near me). He would typically be one of the more balanced reporters, I would guess.
The fact is the Pens are very different than they were. Whether they’ll compete for the finals or not is hard to say as strong as NJ and Boston seem to be, but the change to Bylsma (sp??) seems similar to what happened with Washington when Hanlon was let go and Boudrea (sp?) came in.
You can hate Crosby all you want, but his potential is still huge, (funny to say potential when the guy has a Hart and an MVP) and with the right system we could see big things.
As they said in North Carollina….the only person to ever hold Michael Jordan under 30 pts a game was Dean Smith.
Posted by dip from philly on 03/18/09 at 05:35 PM ET
Funny, Clement Clement, Hands of Cement focuses on improved offensive aggressiveness in his argument. Sorry, but an offensive hockey mentality will not make Pittsburgh a team to fear in the playoffs. It just won’t. From my understanding, that has been a big problem there this year. They haven’t had the commitment to defense, or at least Therrien’s version of defense. Maybe that has changed as their GAA over the past few weeks looks a little improved (though from what I read Bylsma is pretty much an offensive guy). Until that mentality changes though, I don’t see how Pittsburgh can be more feared than any other team in that conference.
Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 03/18/09 at 05:46 PM ET
These are not the Penguins of the start of the season. They are not the Penguins of the turn of the year. They’re not even the Penguins of last month.
I don’t care who they are or who they think they are, just give us the waddlers in the SCF and they can start engraving Wings’ names on the Cup right now. Of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference (as of today), no one scares me less than Cindy and his buddies.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 03/18/09 at 06:07 PM ET
Is Fleury still the Pens goalie? I mean, I’m not sure. I’m confused…almost sad.
Because if he is, I’m not “fearing” the Penguins. In fact, I’m almost giddy. Like a schoolgirl, a schoolgirl like…well, you know.
Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 03/18/09 at 06:22 PM ET
Wait, someone in DC is criticizing another team’s goalie?
HAHAHAHAHA.
By the way I hope someone cripples Ovechkin and flies a plane into Joe Louis Arena. Don’t worry, it won’t kill any fans since Detroit can’t sell tickets.
Posted by obitchkin on 03/18/09 at 06:53 PM ET
Don’t worry, it won’t kill any fans since Detroit can’t sell tickets.
Posted by obitchkin on 03/18/09 at 07:53 PM ET
[groans]
Holy hell…
Not this retarded ass argument again.
Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 03/18/09 at 08:41 PM ET
By the way I hope someone cripples Ovechkin and flies a plane into Joe Louis Arena.
Okay, obi, Homeland Security has been alerted and your ISP has been ordered to turn over your information ASAP. On the other hand…
Wait, someone in DC is criticizing another team’s goalie?
HAHAHAHAHA.
...I think we gotta give ya credit for that one. 
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 03/18/09 at 10:23 PM ET
You can hate Crosby all you want, but his potential is still huge, (funny to say potential when the guy has a Hart and an MVP) and with the right system we could see big things.
dip from philly: The Hart Trophy IS the MVP. I’m sure that was just a clerical error.
Funny how Pittsburgh got their act together with: Sid out of the lineup, their then crappy coach not mucking things up, getting a less-washed-up winger to help score in Guerin and got rid of knife-in-his-back Whitney for Kunitz.
Anyone who was writing off any team within five points of the playoffs with 25 games to go hasn’t watched a lot of hockey, especially in Gary’s wet dream world where losing gets you points too. Any team getting hot right now doesn’t bother me. Getting hot a couple games into the playoffs means a wee bit more.
Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 03/18/09 at 10:36 PM ET
Holy hell…
Not this retarded ass argument again.
I knew it. Need more hungry bears to eat the idiots and eliminate them from the gene pool before they breed! 
Seriously, though - how many teams can REALLY feel confident in their goaltending?
Not Washington or Detroit, not Pittsburgh so much, not Calgary (his numbers have been declining steadily), certainly not Montreal (assuming they don’t slide right out of the playoff picture entirely) ...
New Jersey for sure. Probably Boston and Vancouver, possibly Columbus (if they hang on to their spot), but who else? Chicago has a Cup-winning goaltender - does that mean they should be confident?
Most teams have questions at goal. It’s more common than not having a question at that position.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/19/09 at 06:25 AM ET
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Gather ‘round, children. Time for another NBC-marketing-directive-disguised-as-legitimate-opinion-piece from Bill Clement.
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 03/18/09 at 02:43 PM ET