Categories: PenguinPoop

Fear not, the Superstar is back

While Dan Bylsma’s first big bout with diversity in his long 277 day NHL coaching career is far from over, the return of Maxime ‘Superstar’ Talbot to the Penguins lineup tonight will hopefully provide the locker room with a little bit of that “Patch Adams” humor that will make the boo boo’s hurt a little less and throw a little octane into the team that’s fighting for a playoff spot in the best division in the NHL.

If you would have told me 40 days ago that only one of the six starting defensemen from opening night would still be skating at the end of last game, my money definitely would not have been on Mark Eaton. Eaton has missed an average of 35 games each season since becoming a Penguin. He left practice early today with back spasms putting his current Iron Man status on the Isle of Misfit defensemen is in jeopardy. Still fear not as one falls one gets back up to fight the good fight, Sergei Gonchar has been cleared to do battle this evening, Orpik is planning on returning Saturday. If that fails the Penguins have called up Chris Lee.

Throwing Gonchar back in the lineup hopefully will ignite the teams power play which is now ranked second to last in the league. The 7 point cushion the Penguins have over the Thrashers and tonight’s nemesis the Ottawa Senators for the last playoff spot isn’t as comfortable as it looks when you consider that they have 4 and 3 games in hand respectively. When the team is short this many players they may not beat the good teams, but winning against the lower teams is a must.

Phil Krundle

Recent Posts

Penguins Update: How Are the Sexy Free Agents Doing?

As I was compiling my first Ex-Penguins Update the other day, it occurred to me…

6 hours ago

A Penguins Trade For One More Run On The Cheap-ish

  Over the last few days, fans and some in the sports media have been…

1 day ago

Penguins Bop Canadiens, Bag Second Win in a Row

  Once again eschewing their preferred run-and-gun style in favor of a more focused, controlled…

1 day ago

Penguins Update: Building Through the Draft Doesn’t Guarantee Success

If you’re a Penguins fan, you know the inevitable looms just ahead and around the…

2 days ago

Penguins Use Puck Luck to Pluck Ducks, 2-1

Well, our Penguins finally did it! They played a reasonably complete 60-minute game (62:35 actually)…

4 days ago

Ex-Penguins Update: Halloween Special

I thought I'd take a break from the relentlessly grim news surrounding our skidding Penguins…

4 days ago