Takeaway from Thursday practice: Sid looks good -- see for yourself
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Perhaps the best part of Thursday was Sidney Crosby’s continually smile around his teammates, pictured
here. He’s back to smiling as much now as he did before his concussion. There's no change in his status, but Penguins fans and fans of the NHL have to be encouraged with his progress.
It was amazing to see Evgeni Malkin, seen
here, on the ice at the same time as Crosby, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang and James Neal. With apologies to Matt Niskanen – who missed Thursday with an illness – that’s a tradeoff Penguins fans will take 10 times out of 10.
A focused Sidney Crosby during Thursday practice, as seen
here.
Crosby and Neal, seen
here, spent a lot of time on the ice talking to each together.
Neal, Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Letang (foreground) enjoy good times around the net
here.
Chris Kunitz, Staal, and Crosby play a little game of pepper with Fleury after practice ends
here.
Staal and Crosby laugh at something Fleury says from the cage
here.
Staal and Neal battle with Crosby, Fleury and Kunitz looking on
here.
After missing Tuesday’s game against the Rangers, Brooks Orpik looked pretty much like Brooks Orpik during Thursday’s skate, seen
here.
Ben Lovejoy has to wonder whether he’ll be wearing this green Penguins sweater come Tuesday, pictured
here.
Here’s a post-practice pileup with Letang locking down the goal-line (again). Crosby, seen
here was engaged in a little bit of contact. Fleury apparently is on the bottom of the pile, underneath the $30 million man.
More laughs from Deryk Engelland, Crosby, Staal and Neal
here in the middle of his shot.
Even with the laughs, it’s hard for Crosby to hide his intensity, as seen
here.
More Crosby intensity
here.
Thirty-goal scorer Neal can laugh about this sequence of taking a shot and his follow through.
Part I,
Part II,
Part III, and
Part IV.
Neal gets back up and awaits the next pass
here.
Not sure what made Crosby look this way
here.
Even through the glass, there’s no mistaking the smile on Pens GM Ray Shero’s face while watching Sidney Crosby continue to work after practice, as seen
here. Read into that what you will.
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Brooks Orpik’s injury gave Paul Martin a shot at extended play Tuesday and he rebounded well from a disastrous showing in Buffalo, as did the rest of the Penguins squad.
Pens GM Ray Shero had this scouting report on Martin immediately after signing him to a five-year, $25 million deal.
“What we’ll get in Paul Martin, Paul is a really smooth skating defenseman, great stick, good defensively, offensive production might be a little bit better than what he’s had in the past,” Shero told the
Penguins’ Web site. “He’s a real solid all-around player. He can play lots of minutes, an effortless skater.”
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The Penguins are only 5-4-1 in February, but beating teams like the Bruins, Flyers and Rangers and losing to Buffalo is a lot better than the other way around.
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Jeremy Malk-Lin apparently is a pretty good basketball player.
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I wonder if Alexander Ovechkin’s injury has nagged him since he stubbed his toe
at the beach during All-Star weekend. He’s an easy target, I know.
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The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes that only one goalie has won the Cup in the last 10 years by playing 70 of more regular season games.
“Fleury is on pace to play 70 games for the first time in his career…” Josh Yohe writes. Actually, the Flower is on pace to start 64 or 65 games while appearing in 67 or 68.
I think the bigger issue for the Pens is finding a backup tender they can trust. Nine of Pens’ last 14 games come against Atlantic Division foes.
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The way the standings look, Pittsburgh might be better off finishing sixth in the East if it can’t unseat the Rangers for first place. Florida or Washington appears set as the no. 3 seed. I’d take my chances with the Panthers over any other playoff team. Of course, it comes down to which team is playing well heading into the postseason and the hot goaltender. Last year, Dwayne Roloson (cringe) bested Pittsburgh.
Of course, the usually caveat applies – be careful what you wish for because it just might come true.
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It’s a credit to the Pens that they forced the Rangers to call a timeout 10 minutes into a scoreless game Tuesday. From the 13:04 mark to 10:39, the Pens held the puck in the NYR end for 133 of 145 seconds.
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ROOT Sports will broadcast a Portland Winterhawks-Spokane Chiefs game Friday night at 10:00 pm EDT. Top Penguins prospect, Joe Morrow, plays for Portland and has 53 points (16,37) in 51 games. Dominik Uher, Pittsburgh’s fifth-pick in 2011, will suit up for Spokane. Uher has 25 goals and 54 points in 50 games.
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Tuomo Ruutu off the market hurts. He would’ve been a nice fit in Pittsburgh. Ryan Clowe and TJ Oshie are the two other fairly big-name targets that could help the Pens. We shall see.
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Finally, anyone with a good handle on the Pens and would like to write an article or two from March 4-12, please drop me a line. Simply click the “CONTACT” link at the top of the page and let me know. I'll take care of the editing, you take care of the content. Thanks!
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Treasure life!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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