Follow me on twitter
The Penguins may be losing their cap genius Jason Botterill. It appears that the Buffalo Sabres are FINALLY about to pull the trigger on canning inept GM Darcy Regier
per a report from Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet. With former Penguin executives Ted Black and Ken Sawyer in the Sabres front office it makes for a very likely scenario where the Sabres will pluck Botterill from the Penguins.
Botterill is a former player in the Sabres organization and I had the opportunity to see him play many times here in Rochester. Botterill was forced from the game of hockey because of concussions but he has certainly transitioned well into retirement as he is one of the top GM prospects in all of the NHL.
Also rumored to be of interest to the Sabres is Tom Fitzgerald who is currently assistant to Ray Shero, and Rick Dudley.
Botterill more than deserves his chance to run his own ship but that will be a blow to Ray Shero and the Penguins organization. Botterill's work with the salary cap could be seen as recently as the last few weeks as he was able to work his magic with the numbers to get the Penguins cap compliant without trading away any assets.
More news as it comes.
************************************
1st Period
The Penguins controlled much of the pace and action in that 1st period as they out shot the Oilers by a total of 15-3. There were definitely signs of why the Oilers are struggling as of late. The passing lanes were plentiful in the Oilers end and LaBarbera did nothing to breed any confidence in the goaltender position.
Neither Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin have ever scored against the Oilers. While it isnt a goal, Crosby ahs already found the scoresheet with his assist on Pascal Dupuis' five hole goal.
The assist gives Crosby a point in 6 straight games to start the season and it is his 10th point of the year. This ties a personal best to start the season. The last time he scored in 6 consecutive games to start a season was his rookie year.
Dupuis has a goal but he is all over the ice. His work ethic and tenacity seems to improve with age.
Chris Kunitz has an assist tonight which is a good thing because Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli is in the stands representing Team Canada's best interests. The bad for Kunitz is that he has twice turned the puck over on centering passes from the offensive zone which led to some of the few clean breakouts the Oilers have had tonight.
Deryk Engelland was inserted into the lineup tonight instead of Robert Bortuzzo. One part to try and supress any funny stuff from Mike Brown, and one part that the Oilers are looking for a physical defenseman via trade. Engelland was absolutely torched by Nail Yakupov which led to the breakaway by Justin Schultz. Fleury went to his trusty old pokecheck to snuff out the opportunity.
The Penguins did come apart a little bit at the end of the period as the Oilers made a push at the end of the period. The Penguins appeared to be on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead heading to the power play but Evgeni Malkin took a dumb penalty. The Oilers were then able to draw another penalty on Paul Martin during a very exciting sequence which had an extra attacker on the ice for the Oilers and Fleury without his stick.
The Oilers may have been outplayed, but they are only one shot away from tying the game and enter the 2nd period with a 2 man advantage.
Props to Ryan Smyth for the wood blade, I'd do that too if I had an unlimited supply.
2nd Period
The script has flipped for much of period 2 as the Oilers outshot the Penguins 15-9. The Oilers came out flying right off the opening faceoff of the period. The Oilers put good pressure on the Penguins during their power play and it led to a goal right after the power play expired to tie the game 1-1.
The Oilers were able to outnumber the Penguins defenders down low and banged home the loose puck opportunity to tie the game.
The Oilers continued to own the period until a great player made a great play. Sidney Crosby caught the puck with his skate flying through the neutral zone with a dirty display of skill. The zone entry led to the Penguins Kunitz scoring on a rebound. LaBarbera looked like he had oven mitts on as he was unable to control the rebound.
Nail Yakupov was served up some free candy by Brooks Orpik
Deryk Engelland's play thus far tonight has left much to be desired. His partner Olli Maatta is also a -2 on the evening.
Marc Andre Fleury has made some high profile saves but the Penguins did not help him out at all on the second goal which was scored by Eberle. After Fleury's athletic save on Taylor Hall Evgeni Malkin was outworked in front of the net and lost his balance. He fell on Fleury which led to Eberle depositing the puck into the empty net.
Malkin has not had a very good game up to this point and the Penguins will need his line to step up their play to help stem the tide that has turned against Pittsburgh.
The Oilers deserved to win that period and they did. Tie game 2-2.
3rd Period
Penguins gut out 3-2 win against a hard working Oilers team tonight on an Evgeni Malkin PP goal. This recap is going to be short because of the news that I have reported up at the top of this blog.
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»