Tag: Pittsburgh Penguins (Page 2 of 3)

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Groundhog Day

11 December, 2008 / Kat

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Empty Netters blog, John Curry will get the start for the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Isn’t this a case of deja vu? Curry’s first NHL start and win happened on November 24th against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

It is hard to gather from the blogosphere if this start is more because of the two games in two nights schedule, or more because Dany Sabourin has been in net for three straight losses. While many (like The Pensblog and others) mention that while Sabourin hasn’t been awful, he hasn’t been awesome, and that him sitting a game might not be the worst idea. The general sense I’ve gotten from all that I’ve read is that the Penguins defense hasn’t been making plays when they need to, and that has been what has hurt them most, not necessarily goaltending.

Now, off to find a bar with NHL Center Ice that won’t break my holiday budget…

The Sports Funk

3 December, 2008 / Kat

I am in the midst of a heavy duty, foggy, cloudy, “I don’t know why I even pay attention to sports” sports funk. In the span of 48 hours this weekend, the following things happened:

-Everyone’s Favorite Goalie (aka John Curry) lost his first NHL start for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres. Despite the Pittsburgh announcers practically blowing out their microphones with the calls of his crazy contortionist saves in the third period, the Penguins defense neglected to play, and he was defenseless against four goals. I was able to view the FSN Pittsburgh coverage online, and on the bright side, the announcers and commentators did seem quite fond of Curry, and very pleased with his performance. It just would have been nicer if Sidney Crosby’s hat trick from Saturday had occurred one day earlier to help Curry out. Continue reading

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch – Dany Gets Benched, Curry Gets Chance

26 November, 2008 / Kat

Updated at 12:45am

Curry congratulated on his first NHL win. (Yahoo Sports)

You know you’ve made it when you have a RotoWatch update.

Joe at Let’s Go Terriers (a frequent commenter of mine) has a great piece on Curry’s game.

Jonathan Bombulie, aka one of my fave AHL bloggers (although really they all rock – if you want to see some good sports bloggers, follow the AHL) Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins says in his Baby Pens post-game entry from tonight:

Meanwhile, we were sitting the press box tonight, watching this clunker, thinking how it would be so much more interesting to write the John Curry story tonight on the Island. He came in with Pittsburgh down 3-0, making his first regular-season NHL appearance, stopped all 11 shots he faced and watched as Evgeni Malkin scored three times (and perhaps more remarkably, Brooks Orpik had a goal and an assist) to give the parent Pens a 5-3 win.

That’s it for tonight. A sports girl’s got to sleep (and write the six articles she’s behind for the Examiner, and the one she’s behind for the HLOG.) Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Updated at 11:24pm

More recaps of tonight’s Pens-Islanders game coming in. Here is the official highlight video on the Penguins website, including a great Curry save near the middle. (I will continue to try to embed it, but at the moment, I’m not able to.)

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review game review has now been posted: Penguins complete another comeback. Serendipitously, they had published an article today on Curry, Curry’s battle brings him to NHL.

Needless to say, I have had more excited texts in the past few hours than any other two hour timespan since I’ve had a cell phone. BU fans really adored Curry during his time in Boston, and are genuinely excited that he’s made it to “the big time.” He’s the first player from the past few classes to make it to the NHL, so he’s the first a lot of current students remember watching in college.

Updated at 9:58pm

Curry gets the win! He made 11 saves, and the Penguins came storming back to beat the Islanders 5-3. I’ve spent the last 45 minutes texting and messaging with tons of Terrier fans about the game.

I’ll start the linkage now with the official game summary from the Penguins. Here’s the ESPN game summary – short now, but bound to be longer soon.

In fun trivia notes, the Islanders goaltender tonight was Joey McDonald, the same goaltender Curry faced off against in his infamous goalie fight from last February.

More to come…

*************

In tonight’s New York Islanders – Pittsburgh Penguins game, Dany “It’s Finalized, No One Can Say His Name” Sabourin was benched after letting up three goals. Everyone’s Favorite Goalie, John Curry, has been inserted in his place. As of this writing, he has played 10:33 and has stopped five shots as the Pens are still behind 3-1.

Terrier Fans, rejoice! Screw the fact that the team still seemed a little off in their win last night against Holy Cross. JOHN CURRY IS PLAYING NHL HOCKEY. Ahead of Cory Schneider, I might add. (But really, I want Schneider to make a splash in Vancouver – the more Hockey East love in the NHL, the better.)

We are enjoying a quiet night of watching hockey (the Boston Bruins – Buffalo Sabres game in particular), so we will be sure to update before the evening ends with how he did.

How Not to Panic When Your Favorite Team Drops Three of Four

24 November, 2008 / Kat

‘Cause you’re hot then you’re cold

You’re yes then you’re no

You’re in then you’re out

You’re up than you’re down

You’re wrong when it’s right

It’s black when it’s white

-Katy Perry’s Hot n’ Cold

This song perfectly represents the past two weeks in Boston University hockey. I now understand why the fiance and I heard it four times while running errands before Saturday evening’s hockey game against the University of Vermont. It is so the unofficial theme song for this team, who has lost three of their last four games after starting out the darling of the college hockey scene.

But if I’ve learned anything in my twenty-some-odd years, it’s how to be a good fan of bad sports teams. And so, this morning, when the partner-in-crime asked if I wanted the sports section of the Boston Globe, I uncharacteristically replied, “No. The key to not panicking as a sports fan is not to acknowledge what happened.” Continue reading

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch – Recalled to Pittsburgh

18 November, 2008 / Kat

In this edition of “The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” watch (insert overly dramatic TV news graphic here), news out of Wilkes-Barre this morning is that John Curry is on his way to Pittsburgh, where he will back up Dany “Still Can’t Find Anyone Who Can Pronounce His Last Name” Sabourin.

This is the first regular season call-up for Everyone’s Favorite Goalie. He spent the pre-season with Pittsburgh, and technically was on the roster when they played their first two regular season games in Europe, but did not dress.

The Penguins take on the Minnesota Wild tonight at 7pm on Versus. No word yet as to when the Curry 36 Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys become available on NHL.com (just kidding.)