Anticipating the return of forwards Eric Fehr and Carl Hagelin, the Penguins sent Conor Sheary to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following practice yesterday.
Fehr has missed the past 17 games with a lower-body injury sustained against Ottawa on February 2. The Pens were 9-7-1 during the big forward’s absence.
Hagelin absorbed a hard hit during the first period of last Saturday’s contest with Calgary. Although he passed the NHL’s concussion protocol, the speedy Swede was held out of the last two games as a precaution.
Beau Bennett, recovering from a shoulder injury, is skating with the team, too. No timetable has been set for his return.
Since tallying two points in his CONSOL Energy Center debut against Boston on December 18, Sheary struggled to produce at the big-league level (two goals and one assist since). Still, the gritty little winger with the huge heart impressed with his speed, hustle and hockey sense while effectively filling a bottom-six role.
After suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury versus Winnipeg on February 26, Sheary was sent to the Baby Pens and later recalled. However, his ice time dwindled in recent games.
Heavyweight Tom Sestito, who dressed against New Jersey and the Islanders, remains on the roster.
Rowney Signs
The Penguins signed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Carter Rowney to a two-year, two-way contract, GM Jim Rutherford announced on Wednesday. The deal, which starts next season, has an average annual value of $612,500.
Thrust into a more prominent role with the Baby Pens due to call-ups, Rowney flourished in recent weeks. Since the beginning of February the 26-year-old Alberta native struck for 12 goals and 20 points in 16 games. With five goals over his past two contests, he’s been positively on fire of late.
For the season, Rowney leads the Baby Pens in points (42) and plus/minus (plus-25). The sturdy 6’2” 208-pounder is second to current Pen Scott Wilson with 19 goals.
Fleury ‘N’ Murray
The Pens seem committed to riding the goaltending duo of veteran Marc-Andre Fleury and rookie Matt Murray down the homestretch.
Murray, 21, has dazzled during his brief time with the Pens. In six games with the black-and-gold, the rangy 6’4” 178-pounder’s posted a microscopic 1.82 goals-against average to go with a sterling .934 save percentage.
After keeping the team afloat with a spectacular October (1.71 GAA, .941 SV%), Fleury’s performance has sagged a bit. Over his past 39 starts “Flower’s” logged a pedestrian 2.51 goals against average to go with a so-so .916 save percentage. Lately he’s struggled with an old bugaboo—rebound control.
Jeff Zatkoff hasn’t played since a wobbly 16-save effort during a 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay on February 20. He stopped 42 of 44 shots in his previous outing—a 3-2 overtime win over Florida on February 6.
Part II
I’m not sold on what Fehr and Bonino bring to the table that the team doesn’t get from the WBS guys who’ve been taking their place on the roster. They’ve got nine goals between them. Not much production even taking into account missed games due to injury. The WBS guys have that in far less games. They are good on the PK, but so are several of the WBS guys. And Bennett? I don’t know what he’s still doing here except to wonder who might want him in a trade, if anyone.
I also don’t see what harm having Sestito in the line up once in a while does. He and Fehr may be around the same size, but Fehr plays like he’s 4 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter. At least Sestito has some snarl, a character trait woefully absent in the current line up. As I’m typing this, I’m watching Prout beat the hell out of, and disrespect, the entire Pens team. Who levels Prout? Who says to him, “There ya go dude. We can play that game, too.”?
As I said earlier, I like the WBS guys. I love their speed and their tenacity, attitude and energy. I just wish there were a couple bruisers among them. This is a physical sport and teams can be intimidated. The Pens aren’t intimidating no matter how fast they can skate. If you can’t face plant opposing players while growling with snot bubbles coming out of your nose, you have a long and rough road to a cup.
And an additional tidbit on the subject, Malkin may be out, again, as well as Wilson, both going down the runway after big hits. No matter what the wusses say, hitting and fighting will never be completely winnowed, or rule-booked out of the game, and I for one would dread that. Nevertheless, you either get physical or you pay lots of doctor’s bills and find yourself constantly plugging holes in your line up. This team does both far too often and these down-to-the-wire seasons are wearing thin. It’s time to beef up and step up. Teams no longer have to sacrifice speed for size and snarl. This team certainly faces somewhat of a rebuild in the coming years. I hope big is one of the words on their scouting sheets.
55 on Point
Well said ! I agree 100 % .Two players went down yesterday….more to come.
That fancy new rehab center/ skating rink they opened last fall is going to get a lot busier. As you say, hockey is a physical sport and you can not take that out of the game. As legendary Coach Scotty Bowman said while Coaching Montreal all those years ago,” if you have a choice between an equally talented small player and a big one,,,,ALWAYS choose the big one because the big one can do anything thing the small player can,but in Hockey there are key situations where small players can not compete with the larger one”. Kind a reminds me of Mario !
Cheers. Nice to hear from you.
Hey 55 on Point,
I hear ya’ regarding Fehr and Bonino.
Even though he hasn’t produced the way I’d hoped, I don’t mind Fehr. You’re right…he isn’t overly physical. But he does give us a big body up front and a bit of a different look. Some versatility, too.
Bonino’s the one who’s disappointed me. I don’t like to criticize players—as a general rule they’re doing the best they can. But how this guy scored 37 goals over the past two seasons truly is a mystery. He doesn’t have any hands…either for shooting or playmaking. He isn’t especially fast or physical, nor does he appear to have very good instincts. At least in the offensive zone.
As the Other Rick mentioned, he’s good on draws and the PK. But I expected so much more.
Not that he was my ideal player, but I thought Kevin Porter was a lot more effective than Bonino. He did a lot of little things that went unnoticed. And on at least a half-dozen occasions he made plays that–while they didn’t earn him assists–helped lead to goals.
Hey Rick,
Getting Fehr and Hagelin back these next couple of games should prove interesting. The roster will finally represent pretty much the best players the team can put on the ice in any given game. Giving no voice to other possibilities, we may finally have a chance to eveluate Sullivan and JRs efforts to make this team a contender.
Getting Bennett back, (yawn) for how many games that will last, really means nothing. About the only player that I would consider (as if my thoughts matter to the organization) sitting to get Bennett back on the ice is Bonino. As we talked about a little bit ago, Bonino is the only player that always seems a little out of step with everyone else. Yes, I love his face-off numbers, but considering how many face-offs he takes, the limited value face-off wins statistically have on game out comes, and his cement hands, he would seem to be the least valuable player on the roster. He may be like Perron. He may be better off playing back in the West.
I’ll save my thoughts on the Rowney signing for a later date but I did find it interesting as to what it may mean.
I am watching these next couple of games with an hopeful eye.
I had debated mentioning the team getting all of its important parts back from IR for fear of jinxing them. Now I wish I would have skipped posting.
Hi Rick, and Jim,
Of course they could do as Jim suggests and bring their absolute best every game, well most of them, anyway. Whether they do or don’t is anyone’s guess. They
indeed are wildly inconsistent, an unfortunate team trait for the past several years.
I still find myself wishing for a meaner, take no prisoners, attitude backed up with some size and muscle. Hey, I like the speed and I’ve been duly impressed with the call ups, I’d take a Rust or a Wilson or two on my team any time, but I don’t see that speed winning a cup without some muscle behind it. Sestito won’t be here for the play offs, and, well, he just one guy.
But we shall see. They are in must-win territory and half-hearted efforts won’t do. Rangers and Isles encores on the way, and the Caps again in the second of back-to-backs, plus a few afternooners, at which they typically don’t fare very well, and let’s not forget the Flyers. They’ve got themselves a difficult task ahead in the next 4-5 weeks. Getting through it a winner will require maximum focus and effort.
Need more scoring
A win would b nice
Hi Rick,
I have not commented on the past few articles in the hope that others would do so.I did not want to “hog” the space,as I may have in the past unintentionally. I really enjoy the opinions of others that are constant contributors to your excellent site.For the most part they are very well informed Pen’s fans who do not get caught up in the “HYPE” generated by the paid Pen’s media.
My point of this post is that now,Friday March 11th we are finally at the stage of the season that I have been waiting for since October.One month left to go. It is now “DO or DIE” time for the Pen’s Rick.They simply must win 11 of the next 14 games or we are out of the playoffs !!! You have 4 teams chasing 2 spots and the Pen’s have the most difficult schedule of any of the 4 remaining teams. Plus the remaining teams seem to always play better against us in March and April.
Simple question, my friend ? Can our Pen’s bring it 110 % every night until the playoffs start ? This is not going to be easy and what shape will they be in if they make the playoffs ?…
Did you happen to see 230#, 6’3 Anders Lee easily push Letang aside and scored the winning goal in the New York game? Letang never stood a chance. Welcome to playoff hockey. Lee could not do that to a player like Weber,Hedman,Chara,Ekblad, even an Orpik.????
Cheers,
Hey Jim,
Nice to hear from you! Please…never feel like you can’t or shouldn’t respond if you’d like to. Your comments are always welcome.
I’m a little frustrated with the Pens’ inconsistency. Win one. Lose one. While they haven’t gone into a funk by any means, they haven’t gained any significant ground on the teams ahead of them, either.
The Calgary game was especially galling. One, I fear, we’ll come to regret.
I’m kind of using last season’s record (43-27-12, 98 points) as a benchmark for making the playoffs. To match that, the Pens need to go 9-3-4…or a reasonable facsimile…over their final 16 games. Anything but a given considering their recent track record.
At least we’re getting all of our horses back for the stretch run. Win, lose or draw, we won’t have any excuses.
I hear ya’ about the lack of heft and shove on ‘d.’ The price we pay for a fleet, puck-moving defense.