GDT: PIttsburgh Penguins at Florida Panthers

Pittsburgh (3-5-3-0) at Florida (4-7-2-0)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/preview?gid=2003110726

Not surprisingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins' three-game unbeaten streak came to an end without Mario Lemieux in the lineup.

Lemieux hopes he is healthy enough to return as Pittsburgh continues a five-game road trip against the Florida Panthers in a matchup of two of the league's youngest teams.

Lemieux missed his first game of the season Tuesday at Toronto with a strained muscle in his left hip and did not participate in Wednesday's practice. He is listed as questionable for Friday, although Penguins coach Ed Olczyk said the injury has improved.

``We'll see how he is Friday morning,'' Olczyk said. ``If it improves as much as it did from Saturday to Tuesday, that's a good sign, because he said it felt a lot better Tuesday than it did on Saturday.''

Without their captain, the Penguins' 2-0-1 streak ended Tuesday with a 4-2 loss at Toronto.

Rico Fata scored one goal and set up another for Pittsburgh, which was coming off consecutive wins over Chicago and Boston.

Marc-Andre Fleury, the top overall pick in the 2003 draft, stopped 34 of 38 shots in his fourth straight start. It was the first NHL appearance in Canada for the former Quebec junior star.

``For sure I was nervous a little bit, but I just tried to stay calm,'' Fleury said.

Fleury is scheduled to start Friday, while backup Sebastien Caron is expected to get the nod Saturday at Tampa Bay. The Penguins are 3-3-2 with Fleury in goal and 0-2-1 when Caron starts.

Pittsburgh entered the season knowing it needed some of its young players to elevate their games, and Fata has done that. He scored seven goals in his first 100 NHL games, but already has six in 11 games this season.

After falling behind by three goals Wednesday against visiting Los Angeles, Florida could not come all the way back in a 3-2 loss.

The defeat was the fourth straight at home for the Panthers, who won a franchise-low eight home games last season.

``We didn't play desperate the whole game,'' left wing Kristian Huselius said. ``It's always tough to lose, but it's especially hard in your barn. We have to get desperate, and we have to get on track.''

Huselius recorded 43 goals in his first two NHL seasons, but is off to a slow start in 2003-04. He has no goals and just two points in his last 10 games.

Pittsburgh is one of the few teams that Florida has been successful against of late. The Panthers are 6-0-1-1 in the past eight meetings.

STANDINGS (through Nov. 5): Penguins - 9 points, 5th place, 5 PB, Atlantic Division. Panthers - 10 points, 3rd place, 6 PB, Southeast Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Penguins - Fata, 6 goals and 10 points; Lemieux, 8 assists; Steve McKenna, 39 PIM. Panthers - Olli Jokinen, 5 goals; Viktor Kozlov, 7 assists and 11 points; Darcy Hordichuk, 44 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS (through Nov. 5): Penguins - Power play: 12.1 percent (7 for 58), 26th in NHL. Penalty killing: 84.0 percent (42 for 50), 13th. Panthers - Power play: 11.7 percent (7 for 60), 28th. Penalty killing: 84.6 percent (66 for 78), 13th.

GOALTENDERS: Penguins - Fleury (3-3-2, 1 SO, 2.21 GAA); Caron (0-2-1, 4.54). Panthers - Roberto Luongo (2-6-2, 2.16); Steve Shields (2-1-0, 3.38).

2002-03 SEASON SERIES: Panthers, 4-0.

LAST MEETING: March 16; Panthers, 4-2. At Pittsburgh, Niklas Hagman scored twice and Jokinen had a goal and two assists, leading Florida to a season sweep.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Penguins - 1-3-1-0 on the road; Panthers - 1-4-1-0 at home.

Sorry all, the last thread didn't show my post and then would not allow me to post a reply with this information. Please delete the other post.

Damn Chaos! I thought we were playing a double header! :rolly:

Good luck to you guys. Lets hope for an exiting and injury free game. It will be interesting to see Fleury against Loungo.

Tonight I expect them to win. I am being very optimistic since I am not a big pens fan. :D

Tonight I expect them to win. I am being very optimistic since I am not a big pens fan. :D

I'm not, but maybe they'll win if I say they'll lose after they got blown out the two times I said they'd win ;)

So my prediction: Minor-league calibre Penguins make Panthers look like a pee-wee team and blow them out 15-0.

There, let's see if that gets some goals out of our guys :D

The Cats have had good luck against the Pens. It's one of those things, like Florida always beats Georgia, the Panthers always beat the Pens! :yo:

The Cats have had good luck against the Pens. It's one of those things, like Florida always beats Georgia, the Panthers always beat the Pens! :yo:

so you started following the cats 2 years ago, huh? i guess you missed those jagr/francis/lemieux days.

my prediction is 3-2 pens.

my prediction is 3-2 pens.

Easily the best 20 minutes I've seen this club put together all year long. 18 shots in the first period. A good dozen quality scoring chances. They should be playing like this all friggin' season. It's about time!!!

Not only that, but fantastic defensively. I think they gave up only 3 or 4 shots the whole period...

Easily the best 20 minutes I've seen this club put together all year long. 18 shots in the first period. A good dozen quality scoring chances. They should be playing like this all friggin' season. It's about time!!!

Not only that, but fantastic defensively. I think they gave up only 3 or 4 shots the whole period...


They could play good for 59 minutes it still doesnt matter...

You need to let the game finish before saying anything about this team...

2-2 now in the second...

Cant wait to hear Keenan's Comments after this one

Luongo is freaking blind...

so you started following the cats 2 years ago, huh? i guess you missed those jagr/francis/lemieux days.

You mean the days when Florida ousted us from the playoffs?

;)

They could play good for 59 minutes it still doesnt matter...

You need to let the game finish before saying anything about this team...

2-2 now in the second...

Cant wait to hear Keenan's Comments after this one

They definitely followed it with a lacking effort for the first half of the 2nd. A little better in the latter stages of the 2nd, but they need to recapture it for the last 20 minutes..

Weiss returns to FL and gets 2 pts (1g 1a). Welcome back Stevie :handclap::bow: He's starting to earn the nickname I'd like to give him :D

http://www.coolburn.com/images/weiss.jpg

Anyone think Van Ryn has a great slapper? His 5th goal this season! I think he could lead the league in goals for d-men this season.

PIT is bad; real bad. Fleury does not impress me; he's 18, but still doesn't impress me. Luongo was not impressive and flops around the crease; think old time marlin chuck carr playing center field. Our dmen are, for the most part, big slow bricks who don't lay down the law and are too sluggish to cover speedier skaters. val bure must have worked out a deal w/ the devil in exchange for great games against PIT; he looked like the elite player outside the 1st line this team is lacking (among other things). Kozlov with an assist, continuing his all-star campaign. Stephie, your goal was luck, but good things happen when you are in front of the net (especially when PIT dmen are so bad you cab sit in front of the net untouched), so maybe you learned something while in SA. Nonetheless, nice to see FLA beat up on an opponent they should defeat.

Oh please. You saw Fleury's weakest game of the season.

Oh please. You saw Fleury's weakest game of the season.

see the nhl board, brain.

What, I can't respond to two threads?

Are you daft?

It's awfully early in the game but it looks to me like Fleury's the cream of the draft despite allowing few regretable goals. He's a natural with such solid fundamentals. I can see why he's still up but man, is seeing a lot of rubber!

btw evil, Fleury already has a couple shutouts for the Pens. On a young team like them that may not impress you but it does me.

I'm not, but maybe they'll win if I say they'll lose after they got blown out the two times I said they'd win ;)

So my prediction: Minor-league calibre Penguins make Panthers look like a pee-wee team and blow them out 15-0.

There, let's see if that gets some goals out of our guys :D

That's it - I will always predict the Panthers to lose hideously from now on. Six goals!!!! :bow: :D

wrong thread, my mistake

Fleury impressed me, big time. especially the save of Val Bure's Wrap Around. kinda makes you wish duds had treade luongo for the third pick so we could have Fleury and Horton. but then sanity sets in.

The refs went in a completely opposite direction from many of the previous games I've seen this yr. They let A LOT of potential penalties go on both teams. I think I enjoyed watching this game more because of it. They let the flow of the game go. It wasn't until the 3rd period till the game was decided and it wasn't until about half way thru the period. Those are the best games to see...they make people want to watch hockey. Even if FL had lost (like it was looking like it would happen after the 2nd period and early score in the 3rd), it was by far the better hockey game I've seen this season. I hope the refs would continue to let the players do what they're paid to do...and thats play hockey...let them police themselves a little (don't go overboard but still call the game-changing penalties).

The one thing that I'm semi-surprised about is the following: The Weiss-Bure-Kristian Huselius line combined for seven points. That line doesn't seem like it would be successful. But Weiss was winning faceoffs like he always does, winning 68% of them and a total of 13 faceoffs (7 in the offensive zone). Huselius, while not scoring goals in recent games, has been playing well along the boards and is contributing which is good to see if he's not scoring goals. Bure played like he did in Calgary and looked like his brother on that setup by Weiss (that was an amazing pass). I hope that line can continue to produce like that and they seem to have some chemistry so hopefully Keenan won't break them up too soon.

Weiss is IMO going to be a contributer this season and if he keeps it up, I think we can guarantee a Cullen departure for a 3rd round pick.
Now that Bure has scored, his goals will keep on coming. Believe me, when your in a huge slump and you breakout scoring, they just keep on coming. I was a little disappointed that Keenan didn't put Bure on the ice with 1 minute left as we had an empty net and up by 2. Weiss and Bure were the 2 best forwards with Huselius not far behind. Now, if he doesn't mix up this line, we could have 3 great scoring lines. Bednar had a great game with Hagman and those 2 showed great chemistry. I'm shocked that they scratched Novo though. I think we should dump Samuelsson.

Possibly some dangerous lines could be

Nedorost-Jokinen-Kozlov
Huselius-Weiss-Bure
Bednar-Horton-Hagman
Messier-Nilson-Hordy/Novo

That gives us 3 legit scoring lines and with that game last night I expect more scoring and Weiss to keep #2 center. The only reason I put Nilson on the 4th line is because he hasn;t been contributing and I want to keep Bednar with Hagman and Horton.

Regarding the second line, no doubt they looked good -- Bure and Weiss especially.

But the Pens are a soft, inexperienced bunch who will make a lot of people look good this season. Let's see how Weiss, Bure, and Huselius fare against tougher competition...like the Blues, for instance.

Also, as RP points out, Keenan's impatience may be that line's greatest obstacle.