Silence is Broken

Hey Pens' Fans,

I apologize for my absense from posting this season. I back now and hope that I can get this blog back to what it once was. So, I am going to jump right into it.

Recently, the Pens have had a bit of a rash of injuries sweep through the team. I know that they way they are playing, at the moment, is not what we had become accustomed to from last season. The Penguins are a formidable team and there are somethings that need to be worked on even without the injuries. The loss of Talbot and Dupuis in recent games hit the team harder than I thought. The loss of Fleury was something that we knew could be bad. I have nothing against Johnson and he is stepping up and doing his best. Unfortunetly, his best and out defesnse together are not enough at times. We are not the most defensive team out there and with Fleury in net, it is not as noticable. Don't get me wrong. We do have a lot of talented defensman. We also have some that really need to step up their game. Most notably, I think that Letang is great for us in some situations. I like his paly and that he can be offensive, when he needs to be. In our own end, he plays well, but he needs to be more defensive. I know that he is an offensive defensman, but step it up and block some shots. Also, Mark Eaton is another player that needs to stepup his game on all levels. The fact that he continues to get the amount of ice time he does just amazes me. I know I have a bit of a reputation for disliking Eaton, but I do feel that he can play better. I nhave seen him play better and he needs to do that again. On an offensive note, Malkin snapping out of his slump could not have come at a better time. We really need him to play his game and he had been down for a quite a while. Thinks are still looking fairly positive for the Pens. Major credit needs to be given Bylsma. The way he has juggleed the line with the revolving door of a roster has gone fairly well. I do really think he has quite a knack for pairing players with linemates that will work well, even if they were just called up. There were many good things to be taken from the lose to the Caps and they way the team worked together was one of them. It just all fell apart in the end. Hopefully, the team can step it up against the Flyers and really hold their own. A big win like that would do wonders foir them right now. More later....