Mario Lemieux Flips the Bird at the NHL

After Friday night's shenanigans against the Islanders, and the subsequent suspensions that followed, the usually quiet owner/former player/all around BAMF that is Mario Lemieux decided that enough was enough. By releasing the suspension terms late last night, one could tell that the NHL wanted to sweep Friday night's game under the rug. #66 would have none of that and released this statement in response this afternoon.

“Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty. It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that.

“The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.

“We, as a league, must do a better job of protecting the integrity of the game and the safety of our players.  We must make it clear that those kinds of actions will not be tolerated and will be met with meaningful disciplinary action.

“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”

 Although the suspensions and fines given in the aftermath of the Islanders-Penguins game were good enough for me, I'm glad that Mario spoke generally about the inconsistencies in the NHL's discipline system. Let's just hope the NHL listens.

My Thoughts - vs Buffalo (W! 3-2)

-The Pens came out and looked absolutely lethargic in the first 10 or so minutes of this game. After that, it was all Pittsburgh. And, when I say it was all Pittsburgh, it really was. This was a team win. Everyone put their best effort forward after that horrid start and the Pens got two points out of it. Five straight wins for the Pens now.

-Anyone remember what happened the last time the Pens were down two goals against the Sabres at home? Seeing that highlight makes me miss Sid but, boy, is it encouraging knowing that the Pens can win as a team; rather than having one relying on one guy to be the hero. That’s the difference between this season and last season. The Pens can play in any situation—defensive, tight games, wide open games, physical games like this one, and any game in between. Bring it on.

-Flower had no chance on both goals he gave up. He made some great saves to seal the deal for the Pens. Just another day at the office for Flower.

-Staal really impressed me in this game. I don’t think I’ve seen him play better hockey in his career, than this stretch of game since he’s come back from injury.

-Dustin Jeffrey looked a lot better in this game than he did the last one. Once Geno went down and he was placed back on the “first” line, he looked a lot more comfortable.

-Talbot, once again, played his heart out, had plenty of chances, but got no points to show for it. I thought that that empty netter last game would break the curse but nope, doesn’t look like it did.

-Who the hell is Mike Weber and who the F does he think he is? He’s gotta take his marbles and go elsewhere, because he’s no longer welcome in the Burgh.

-Poor Geno. The guy just has no luck when it comes to injuries. He came out, in his first game back, looked pretty good (a little rusty, maybe), then gets injured again. The news is that he’ll be reevaluated tomorrow, but, with Geno’s luck, he might be out again.

-That being said, I like the way the Pens buckled down after Geno went down that runway.

-Liked Cooke’s game. Did not, however, like the cheap punch he tried to throw.

-Michalek is going to score a goal sometime. He’s been getting a lot of really good chances lately. I’m pretty sure that’s the least of his concerns, though. He was a defensive beast.

-Martin’s looked like the $5 million that he is in the past few weeks, and in these past few games especially.

-Despite being held off the score sheet, Letang had a wail of a game.

-Goose gets tagged with a -2 in the first ten minutes of the game. Then, with 3 minutes left, in a 3-2 game he comes up with a big block. Makes up for that -2, in my mind.

-Bylsma got his 99^th career NHL win tonight. You know who we’re playing on Sunday. Here we go Pens (I sincerely hope you see what I did there).

My Thoughts - at Rangers (W! 4-3 SO)

-How did we win this game? Well, in the past, (rightly or wrongly) fans would kind of sigh at our depth at center and maybe even laugh because we have such a big surplus of them. Tonight, that surplus more than paid off.

-Flower was much better than the score said. Our defense in front of the net was not good and, frankly, Flower had no chance on any of the goals against him. Looking at his shootout stats (7 shots, 7 saves) tells you all about what the score should’ve been, in my opinion.

-Let’s get to the elephant in the room: the Staal-Prust incident. Staal wasn’t having a good game before the incident, so the check on TK by Prust must’ve set him off in terms of frustration. I get that Jordan was trying to stick up for a teammate and I love him for that, but a sucker punch is not needed . Did Prust go down easily? Certainly, but why would Staal try to punch him in the first place? Of all the games to go ape s***, Staal chooses the game where Sid, Geno, and Letestu are out. Stupid, stupid, stupid.  I expect a fine and maybe a suspension to come out of this. To say the least, I thought Jordan would have used better judgment in a situation like that.

-Now that that’s out of the way, on to other matters:

-Kunitz continues to quietly have an awesome season. I don’t know if it’s quiet in that he’s just an underrated player or quiet because he’s shut up all the people who said he was way over paid.

-Jeffrey was very impressive after a slow start to the game. In the absence of just about every other forward on the team, he really stepped it up.

-I thought Martin had a fantastic game. He was joining rushes,making plays in the offensive zone, and boxing out forwards in his own zone. In the past three weeks or so, he’s really played his best hockey and I hope it continues to be that way.

-Marian Gaborik was invisible.

-Letang had a pretty good game, but he only attempted one shot (a missed shot). In a game missing so much offense, that’s unacceptable.

-Poor Talbot has been playing great hockey for a few weeks now with nothing to show for it. Hopefully a primary assist means that he’s getting out of his snake bitten funk. If he doesn’t, he may not be wearing a Penguin uniform much longer. 

-With all these injuries, I really hope Malkin isn’t rushed back tomorrow. We all know he wants to play really badly and with the shortage of offense,  you never know…

-I’ll be straight up here and say, honest to God, I don’t think we deserved to win this game. We didn’t play well enough to win, in my mind. The Pens have the performances of  select players to thank for the two points tonight.

Pre-Game Reading, Watching, Ooh-ing and Aww-ing

Sorry, folks, I've been really busy lately. I just started a new semester of college, so things have been really hectic. Thankfully, I think things will be back to normal soon.

-In case you've been living under a rock, Crosby is still out with a concussion [ EveryNewsSourceThereIsInCanada].

-Meanwhile, his sister, Taylor, is finding her way as a freshman goaltender at Shattuck St. Mary's (same one Sid went to at age 15) [SSM News]

-When looking at her stats, remember that this is her first year of playing against great competition consistently, not to mention that she's only been playing hockey for 4 years before this. It's going to be exciting to see just how much she improves over her high school career (it's bound to be a lot). [ SSM U16 Season Stats ]

-Kris Letang had a pretty good ASG debut [ Post Gazette ]

-Tanger also had a sweet goal in the ASG. Wow, what a snipe job. [ YouTube ]

-Speaking of the ASG, the Flower had a lot of fun. Take a look at how he got there [YouTube]

-My favorite picture of the All-Star Weekend [ Twitpic ]

-My favorite picture ever [ Wordpress ]

Let's Go Pens!!