A Recap of the Weekend Preseason Games

The preseason ended with yet another loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Friday's game saw our man Sid playing some truly inspired hockey. Seriously, if he continues to play with that intensity throughout the regular season, you're already looking at the 2008 MVP! The low point of the pair of games played against Buffalo this weekend came when Saint Sid got boarded due to a can-opener* move courtesy of Jaroslav Spacek. Sid discussed the incident with Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"He 'can-opened' me, so I couldn't stop myself from going into the boards," Crosby said. "I don't think he meant to do anything [malicious], but he puts a player in a pretty vulnerable position when he puts his stick in between his legs with his back toward him, going toward the boards."

Spacek was assessed a boarding minor.

Crosby, who got what he described as "a little bruise," said he was "fine" and skated in practice yesterday. He also traveled here with the team despite being given the night off.

If you watched the game via NHL Center Ice online (like I did), your heart probably stopped for a minute when Crosby went down in a heap (as mine did) following the hit. He staggered off to the bench doubled over in pain. I can tell you that, at least for me, it was quite a relief when he finally came back to the ice.

Sid in action on Friday

The Penguins lost the game with a final score of 5-6, despite a valiant last second effort to tie the game from Evgeni Malkin. He got the puck in the net at 0.00, which unfortunately resulted in a "no goal" call from the officials, which meant no tie game.

Sid watches Buffalo's Brian Campbell score on Pittsburgh's new goalie Dany Sabourin on Friday

Saturday's game was not available online nor was it on XM radio, so I had to rely on the new BallHype score widget that I recently added to TSCS's home page. (It keeps a live score - all you have to do is refresh the page so it will update the data.) Since I didn't personally see or hear anything about the on-ice action, I'll let Molinari recap the game for you (from the same article as linked above):

The Penguins nearly came up with a memorable ending to an otherwise forgettable preseason.

They rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered goals, but could not hold off a late Buffalo surge and lost to the Sabres, 4-3, at HSBC Arena in their exhibition finale last night.

The Penguins, who will open the regular season Friday at Carolina, completed preseason play with a 1-3-2 record.

They will have today [Sunday] off and are expected to pare their 27-man roster to the league-mandated limit of 23 by tomorrow [Monday].

Don't sweat these losses. Remember that it's only the preseason, and these exhibition games don't count for points. The real show starts on October 5 in Carolina country!

And lastly today, the Penguins may open next season on a different continent. The NHL approached the Tampa Bay Lightning about opening the 2008-09 season by playing the Penguins in a pair of games in Prague, Czech Republic. Lightning President Ron Campbell confirmed that his team was in talks with the NHL and that he is "flattered" by the offer. However, as with most of these rumors, officials at the Penguins declined to comment. It seems like EVERYONE wants an opportunity to see Sidney Crosby play live, and European NHL fans may have the opportunity - sooner than you think! :)

LET'S GO PENS!!!

---

*can-opener - (definition from the Northern Ontario Hockey Association: can-opener/corkscrew - a player putting the stick between the legs of an opponent and twisting)

Pens v Habs 2: Sidney's Revenge

Well, okay. Sid didn't play last night, but I thought the headline was catchy. ;) The Penguins did get their revenge, however: they beat the Canadiens 5 to 2. Friend of The Show Lana M. went to this game, too. Here's her account of how things went down:

The pens first two goals came so fast i barely saw them happen, not to mention being up in the rafters tonight I could just barely able to make out some names on jerseys. Nice to see new names on the score sheet.

The building Monday night was 21,273 people acting like it was days till the playoffs, not your normal pre-season game. The action on the ice was nothing like a pre-season game, we couldn't believe the passion that was being left out there. Tonight, i have to admit it was much more low-key. You had Latendresse out there forgetting that the next time he sees the Pens he's going to have Laraque and Ruutu to answer to. My heart stopped when Whitney was slow to get up but I felt much better seeing him play just fine on his next shift.

Poor Esposito, I think he fanned on 5 shots before one even came close to the net. He wants it bad. I can imagine the pressure or nervousness he must have felt coming to play here. If he makes the team i just hope he gets the chance to put the winner in on at least one game against Montreal. Just to say "See? See what you passed on?" They deserve it.

Malkin looked great, smooth, soft hands. His penalty seemed pretty much out of laziness and I got a few taunts seeing I had his jersey on tonight but streaking out of the box to score, that... That felt really good.

It's really impossible to base any predictions from the two games as to what will come this season. Montreal doesn't always look great on paper but in my opinion the Bell Center always seems a little louder when the Pens come to play. It's been a great two nights here in the city.

I'm glad you had fun, Lana. Thanks SO MUCH for the recap!

Sir Sidney having a laugh at training camp

I'd like to keep doing this, even after the regular season kicks in and we get the games on TV. I'm not going to try to recap the games this season; I'll be sure to pass along the scores and, of course, all the details about Sidney's performances, but there are plenty of other sites out there that do a much better job of recapping games than I ever could.

So I guess this is how I see the regular season going here at The Sidney Crosby Show this year: I will continue to keep you up-to-date on all the Saint Sid news you can handle, as always, but for the actual game recaps, I've decided to let that one up to you guys. If you go to a game and you want to send me your story, I'd love to share it here. I think it's always best to hear these stories from someone who has been there.

And OF COURSE I will recap any game I attend - which means you all are going to get a first hand account of my experience at the Ice Bowl Winter Classic 2008!!! Currently, I also have tickets to attend the last home game of the season, which is Fan Appreciation Night - a.k.a. The Shirts Off Our Backs Night. Every fan wins something at that game. (Hopefully, I'll win more than a newspaper this year!)

And finally tonight, thanks go out to a new Friend of The Show. Maureen G. informed me that the Penguins website has posted team members' NHL photos for the new season. If you go to our main page, I've changed the picture of Sid to the new one. She said this about the new photo: "Saint Sid is really growing up before our eyes!" Agreed - and I suspect we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of the talent of this young man.

Pens v Habs: Sidney's Got An Attitude

We here at The Sidney Crosby Show are blessed with the best Friends. I'm always getting assists from you guys, and today is no different. Last night, the Penguins faced the Canadiens in a preseason matchup. The Pens lost in overtime with a final score of 2 - 3. (>_<) Here are the first hand accounts of Friends of The Show Lana M. and Lisa-Marie W., who were both lucky enough to attend last night's game.

From Lana:

So they lost in OT but it was great to see them back on the ice. Crosby looked great out there. Just before he scored his first goal, i called it. He was just in his spot and i cheered. So what if i was the only one in my sections or a few sections for that matter, it felt good. He seems to get more emotional when he plays here. At least in my opinion he seems to but Komisarek was on the guy all night, can't blame him for fighting back.

Oooh, and on a side note, it may seem a little lame but Malone flipped me a puck and Malkin was in the press box in front of me and said hi. Go Pens.

No, Lana, that's not lame. That's AWESOME.

The new threads look pretty good.

From Lisa-Marie:

Crosby scored, from the absolute WEIRDEST angle I've ever seen, and he ricocheted it off Komisarek's stick. From the replay--it honestly looks like he did it on purpose. Seriously. He took a few dumb penalties--but that was more the ref's fault. He'd call tripping when Sid was going after the puck and the other guy just tripped. But in fairness, a lot of players got called for penalties on Sidney, too. I was kinda surprised, but happy.

The Croz got into a scuffle with Komisarek late in the third. A dumb thing to do, Komisarek is twice his size and a beast, but I admire Crosby's bravery and take-no-shit attitude. Komisarek cross-checked him, then when Crosby drove the net he tripped him and Crosby went crashing to the ice. The goalie gave him a shot, and a Habs player kneed him. The Kid got back up, took a slash at Komisarek, and a general scuffle of face washing and trash talking ensued. Komisarek and another Hab got a penalty, and Crosby and Recchi took a penalty each, so it was 3 vs 3 in overtime. Crosby and Komisarek were standing up and yelling at each other in the box--is it me, or do you just LOVE it when players trash talk? oh, if I could hear what they said. I mean, I could make ot a few words. "F*CK" and any variation of the word is pretty clear.

I think that "F*CK" might be Sid's favorite verb, Lisa-Marie. Just ask Bryan Murray...

Ladies, thanks for sharing your stories with us!!!