Penguins Gameday - 01/09/2010 - Leafs

The Penguins look to get back to their winning ways as they embark on a five game road trip starting with the Maple Leafs tonight in Toronto, to be shown on NHLTV-US. These teams have split their previous two meetings as they gear up for their final meeting of the season. Toronto is in a slump of their own and is just 3-5-2 in their last 10.

Pic courtesy of NHL.com

If you remember correctly in their last meeting on December 27th the Pens were down 3-2 in the third and came back to tie the game on a Mike Rupp goal with just over 2 minutes remaining. With overtime on their minds, Fleury unfortunately let Ian White put the biscuit in the basket with just over a minute left to shatter the Pens hopes of coming back to steal the game. Disappointing nonetheless. This loss was the beginning of a 5 game skid which the Pens have yet to really get over.

After a disappointing loss to the Flyers at home on Thursday the Penguins need to regroup, take action, and "get back to basics" (Crosby). Just about everyone except Sid (3 goals in last 3 games) and the Sesame Street Line, particularly Jordan Staal, is playing sub par hockey. Following the 8-2 blowout to the Senator the Pens have gone 1-6 being outscored 28-18 by the opposition.

The two notable deficiencies have come from Marc-Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin. MAF is 0-5 in that stretch, has been pulled once, and has let some of the easiest goals of his career slide by.

Likewise, despite still being ranked 21st in the league in points, Geno has just 4 points in his last 7 games and went four games without recording a single point. Likewise he hasn't scored a goal since his hat trick against the Sens and is 0 for his last 26 shots. The good news is he has 5 goals and 11 assists in a seven-game points streak against Toronto. Lets hope Geno takes this game to get back on track. It's no coincidence that when Geno plays bad, so do the Pens.

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Crosby on the loss to the Flyers.

"If I worry about everyone elses game that not helping anybody. I have to worry about my game. I have to look in the mirror and make sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing before I start pointing the finger at anybody else. I just think this is one of those times when we have to get back and work on our own game and make sure that we're doing, that I'm doing the right thing. And I think if everyone does that we'll be okay" - Bill Guerin (01/07/09 post game)

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