3 Thoughts Before Our Penguins Last Game of the First half of the Season

Warning, I was thinking about our favorite hockey team this morning and my thoughts prompted me to put somethings down in writing. Read at your own risk.

A Quick Look at Tonight’s Game

There is some good news and some bad news about tonight’s game. First the good news, our Pittsburgh Penguins’ opponent, the Winnipeg Jets, played last night. They beat the Buffalo Sabres. And possibly even more importantly, their number 1 Goalie Connor Hellebuyck faced 41 shots. The boys from Buffalo did us a huge favor, they made the Jets’ Goalie work hard for the win.

The bad news, unless Rick Bowness, the Coach of Winnipeg, tries to play Hellebuyck tonight as well, that would seem to mean that he feels Buffalo is the tougher opponent.

Of course, should our boys of winter find a way to lose….well let’s not think about that.

Also, with Winnipeg being on the back end of a back-to-back and their 3rd game in 4 nights, how many Penguins fans will crow should we win tonight, ignoring the fatigue factor Winnipeg should be feeling. Then should we lose against the Anaheim Ducks, Monday night make all kind of excuses over our 3rd game in 4 nights?

Shout outs to Some Penguins Prospects

Down on the farm (thank you Bob Evans’ marketing team) Lukáš Švejkovský and Raivis Ansons scored their first professional Goals (G) this past Wednesday (1/11/23) as our Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) Penguins beat the Hershey Bears 4 to 3 in Overtime (OT).

Speaking of our AHL affiliate, guess which goalie has the best W-L record. With Dustin Tokarski being called up to back up Casey DeSmith and Filip Lindberg injured, last season’s undrafted Free Agent (FA) Taylor Gauthier has posted a 4 – 1 record at the AHL level.

I must confess, I do feel all three of these kids have what it takes to make it to the NHL level, so I am really excited to see them hit these milestones. However, I won’t hold my breath to see them wear a Penguins’ sweater during this current incarnation of the Penguins. Švejkovský and Ansons play a little too hard for our coaching staff. As for Gauthier, even down in WBS, there is an Archaeology mind set. Even J.D. Forrest (WBS’ GM) prefers to play fossils over prospects, as evidenced by the disproportional starts handed to Tokarski vs Lindberg even before Lindberg was injured.

Speaking of Archaeologists

Coach Mike Sullivan send Mark Freidman back down to WBS while recalling 34-year-old Taylor Fedun. His excuse, “We’re reluctant to have anyone on the sidelines for any length of time… We’re trying to get them game action. We all feel that’s an important aspect of continuing to develop and keeping everyone’s game where it needs to be so that they can help us when they go into the lineup.”

If you have been keeping up with the Baby Penguins like I have or at least been following my updates you will note that in terms of merit, Xavier Ouellet leads all Baby Penguins in Points (Pnts) with 17 and is a +9 in 29 Games Played (GP). Only Jon Lizotte has a better +/- than Ouellet. Ouellet is also a Left-Handed Defenseman (LHD) who can also play the right side. Right-Handed Defenseman (RHD) Jack St. Ivany has 4 Pts and is +1 in 24 GP. And RHD Colin Swoyer has 3 Pts and is +3 in 11 GP.

Of course, St. Ivany is only 23, Swoyer is only 24, and Ouellet, he is only 29, so we have to call up 34-year-old Fedun who only has 2 Pnts and is +3 in 30 GP. It is far more important to reward a 34-year-old having something below an unremarkable season than give a kid or even a slightly younger veteran who are all having better seasons an opportunity to be part of the big club for a game or two, even is just means practicing with big club and sitting in the press box afterwards.

Granted, WBS won’t miss Fedun at all.