Though the Penguins already have 2 games in the tank, tonight officially marks the kick off of the 2008-09 season for your Flightless Birds. At least that is what it feels like to me. The atmosphere in and around Pittsburgh still sort of has the smell of the Penguins long playoff run last season.

The Trib Total Media Faceoff Festival that started outside of the arena at 4:00pm brought the Penguins faithful out in mass and the weather warmed up to a very spring like 75 degrees. A good thing for those who are choosing to watch the game on the LCD screen the Penguins provided for the tonight's festivities.

Hockey is definitely in the air and the Penguins are set to faceoff against the New Jersey Devils tonight at the Mellon Arena.

Home Opener Notes:

The Penguins are 79-85-20 all time against New Jersey's finest, including a 44-41-6 record on home ice. The team has earned at least one point in 18 of their last 21 home openers. They have outscored their opponents 149 to 132 overall.

Tonight marks the 41st home opener in Penguins history with the team posting a 21-12-7 record in those games.

Tonight marks the first of 6 meetings between the Penguins and Devils. This is the first season since the lockout that inter division foes will meet less than 8 times.

Pittsburgh's own Bill Thomas makes his Penguins debut. Thomas played a game for the Phoenix Coyotes last season on Mellon Arena ice.

The Penguins have already lost 6 man games to injury.

How They Were Built:

HOW THE PENGUINS WERE BUILT…
Mark Eaton…………………………………………………….Signed as free agent 7/3/06
Hal Gill………….Acquired from Toronto for 2008 2nd round pick & 2009 5th round pick
Alex Goligoski………………………Drafted 2nd round (61st overall) in 2004 Entry Draft
Kris Letang........................................Drafted 3rd round (62nd overall) in 2005 Entry Draft
Brooks Orpik…………………………Drafted 1st round (18th overall) in 2000 Entry Draft
Rob Scuderi………………….............Drafted 5th round (134th overall) in 1998 Entry Draft
Darryl Sydor……………………………………………...….Signed as a free agent 7/2/07
Paul Bissonnette…………………....Drafted 4th round (121st overall) in 2003 Entry Draft
Matt Cooke…………………………………………………..Signed as a free agent 7/5/08
Sidney Crosby…………………………Drafted 1st round (1st overall) in 2005 Entry Draft
Pascal Dupuis………………………………………………..Signed as a free agent 7/1/08
Ruslan Fedotenko……………………………………..……..Signed as a free agent 7/3/08
Eric Godard……………………………………………….….Signed as a free agent 7/1/08
Tyler Kennedy………………………Drafted 4th round (99th overall) in 2004 Entry Draft
Evgeni Malkin………………………..Drafted 1st round (2nd overall) in 2004 Entry Draft
Miroslav Satan……………………………………….………Signed as a free agent 7/2/08
Jordan Staal…………………………...Drafted 1st round (2nd overall) in 2006 Entry Draft
Petr Sykora………………………………………………..…Signed as a free agent 7/2/07
Max Talbot……………………………Drafted 8th round (234th overall) in 2002 Entry Draft
Bill Thomas……………………………………………..…..Signed as a free agent 7/15/08
Marc-Andre Fleury……………………Drafted 1st round (1st overall) in 2003 Entry Draft
Dany Sabourin………………………………………………....Signed as free agent 7/1/07

This Day in Penguins History:

10/11/1967 - The Penguins played their inaugural game against the Montreal Canadiens, falling to the Habs 2-1. Andy Bathgate scored the lone goal for the Penguins.


Milestone Watch:

Sidney Crosby is one goal shy of 100, three assists shy of 200 and four points shy of 300 in his NHL career.
Pascal Dupuis is two penalty minutes shy of reaching 200 in his NHL career.
Marc-Andre Fleury is four wins shy of reaching 80 in his career.
Hal Gill is nine games shy of playing 800 in his NHL career.
Evgeni Malkin is seven points shy of reaching 200 in his NHL career.
Brooks Orpik will play his 300th NHL game tonight and is six penalty minutes shy of reaching 400 in his NHL career.
Darryl Sydor is five goals shy of reaching 100 in his NHL career.
Petr Sykora needs six power-play goals to reach 100 in his career
Marc-Andre Fleury is three wins away from reaching 80 in his career.

Stay tunes for more throughout the game...

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A look at the new banners...a la my cell phone!

The New Individual Awards Banners:


By bmetzer66, shot with BlackBerry 8310 at 2008-10-11

Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division Champs:


By bmetzer66, shot with BlackBerry 8310 at 2008-10-11

Old Division Champs and President's Trophy:


By bmetzer66, shot with BlackBerry 8310 at 2008-10-11

I couldn't get a good vantage point for the Stanley Cup Banners.

* * * * *

Bill Thomas will not make his Penguins debut tonight...he is among the scratches. He joins Paul Bissonnette and Petr Sykora.


* * * * *

The Penguins draw first blood...ironically enough on the Power Play! Can we stop the rampant panic that was running wild since last weekend? Hopefully so...

Evgeni Malkin got the puck on net from the point, at which point it hit a mass of humanity in front of Marty Brodeur. After deflecting around a bit, Miro Satan found it and slammed it home past a fallen Brodeur.

* * * * *

Time to usher in the boo birds again! The Pens just failed on their second power play...I kid of course.

* * * * *

One period in the books and the Penguins hold a 1-0 lead over the Devils.

Though the Penguins are being out shot 10-8, they have had the better of the opportunities. Both goalies have played well and this could be one of those 2-1 or 3-2 affairs we are so used to seeing between these two teams.

Eric Goddard notched his first fight in a Penguins uniform, as he took on Mike Rupp early in the period. The fight was pretty even, though Goddard put Rupp on his wallet before it was all said and done.

As I mentioned above, Miro Satan notched the Penguins goal. It was of the garbage variety, but the Penguins are looking for him to do just that. Many will remember that the Penguins last reclamation project, Petr Sykora, notched two goals in last year's home opener.

Things are starting to get a bit chippy between these two teams and the Penguins will go back on the power play to start the 2nd period. Several Devils have tried to get Brooks Orpik to mix it up, but he has been smart enough to waive them off. Things could get a lot rougher before it is all said and done...

More as it happens.

* * * * *

Hal Gill and David Clarkson just went for a dance...the latest on the card for this evening. It wasn't a very rousing performance for either skater, as the linesmen eventually just broke things up.

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I need to send a shout out to D9...the section famous for the Cowbell now sports black and gold rally towels that say "We Are D9." Nice touch guys...

* * * * *

Kris Letang with a pretty nasty giveaway...however it led to one of the finest Marc Andre Fleury stops of the evening as he stopped Brian Gionta on a give and go. Fleury then smothered for the faceoff.

Fleury has has had a fine game up to this point and is hugely responsible for keeping the Pens in the lead. He has also been the Penguins best penalty killer...stopping several Devils scoring chances with the extra man.

* * * * *

Sidney Crosby, Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko just had their finest shift of the game. Unfortunately, some great puck movement by Sidney Crosby couldn't turn into a a second Penguins goal. First he set up Satan nicely who chipped the puck wide on the backhand. Then it was Sid's turn to take a feed in front, in which he almost put past Brodeur from his knees. This line is definitely going to generate some quality opportunities this season.

* * * * *

The Penguins are about to go back on the power play...which they have only been able to cash in on once this evening. They have gotten some decent opportunities though, so I am not super concerned about it.

Sidney Crosby is definitely ready for this season, he is making backdoor, no look passes to his line-mates and creating tons of open ice.

* * * * *

Alex Goligoski has looked good in the game, but he needs to get his shot through and on net with more consistency. He has had 50% of his shots blocked tonight.

Two periods are now in the book and the Penguins are still hanging on to a 1-0 lead. They have definitely had some chances to cash in for their second, but just cannot beat Marty Brodeur.

Marc Andre Fleury is the sole reason that the Penguins are still in the lead, he has made some solid saves in situations that could definitely have resulted in goals on a lot of nights.

Tyler Kennedy continues to impress. He is always the fastest skater on the ice during his shift and just finds ways to slide past the opposition. Just when it looks as if he is going to get smeared, he tip toes past and continues on with the puck. He also seems to have an eye for any loose puck that is in his vicinity. The young forward does not look out of place on a line with Malkin and Staal.

Speaking of Malkin, Evgeni isn't looking very comfortable on the point this evening. He has had a couple of passes skip past him and has barely diffused a couple of potential New Jersey short handed opportunities.

As I mentioned above, Sidney Crosby is playing some great hockey and it is only a matter of time before he starts to collect some points. He has created several great opportunities throughout the game. He is stickhandling in a phone booth and his vision is top notch. Dare I say, he is finally back to 100%.

More as it happens...

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Folks who think Sidney Crosby should be getting more ice than he did in the past are getting their wish. Number 87 has notched the second most ice time for the Penguins (15:08), trailing only Kris Letang (15:42). In fact, the only players in the game that have more TOI than Letang and Crosby are Devils defensemen Paul Martin (15:55) and Bryce Salvador (15:56).

* * * * *

Evgeni Malkin and Rob Scuderi combined to give the Devils a power play opportunity, but the Penguins did a great job of killing it off. Malkin tried to slide a pass to Scuds at the point and Scuds wasn't in great position to receive it...the play went the other way.

The PK featured some great work by Pascal Dupuis, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal.

Eric Goddard had been in the box serving his end of an offsetting minor and was sprung during the PK...he made a mad dash to the Devils blue line looking for a break out pass. It never fails...the Penguins enforcer gets to town and looks to become an offensive dynamo! Unfortunately for Goddard, the break out pass never materialized.

* * * * *

Marc Andre Fleury just kept the Devils off of the board again with some fine work while being accosted in his crease. The Devils sent all their forces in after a loose puck, but somehow were held at bay once again. Things got very animated as the Devils and Penguins got together for a friendly game of knock each other down.

Penguins still lead 1-0.

* * * * *

Who knew I was such a prophet...during the second period I said to Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette who was seated next to me, "I hate to say it, but this game really has the feel of a 2-1 loss." The Penguins were winning 1-0 at that point. In fact, even though they were being ridiculously out shot and out played in certain aspects of the game, they clung to a 1-0 lead until the late stages of the third period.

Unfortunately, Marc Andre Fleury. who played an amazing game throughout, would yield a goal off of a bad bounce. Hal Gill had a Patty Elias shot deflect off of his leg and into the net behind Fleury. From that point on, the prophesy was all but destined to come true and it did just that late in the overtime period. Zach Parise placed a beautiful shot under the crossbar to Fleury's right off of the rush and earned the extra point for New Jersey.

Though it was a tough pill to swallow, Fleury was quick to give his teammates a pass.

"My job is to make the saves," Fleury said. "Tonight was like that. But other nights it is me who doesn't get any shots and it's our guys getting shots on the other side."

Sidney Crosby wasn't as understanding in the aftermath of the Penguins second loss in a row.

"We didn't deserve a win," Crosby said. "We didn't deserve a point."

That was pretty much the mood around the locker room and in the media lounge for coach Therrien's press conference. The players seemed to realize that they didn't perform to the level that will be expected if they are going to take the next step this season and Therrien was quick to point it out.

"They didn't work...it's that simple," Therrien said when asked what the difference was between the first period and the rest of the game. The coach was clearly agitated by his team's performance, but he seemed to hold off and laying a verbal lashing on his team.

Could a calculated Therrien tongue lashing be far off? It is probably still to early for that, but the level of play has got to come up.

Things will not get any easier as the Penguins will face Philadelphia and Washington with 4 huge Eastern Conference points on the line this week.

More tomorrow...

Be there for the Penguins Hockey Buzzcast tomorrow afternoon at 6:30pm.

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