GDT#49: 1/24/12 > Blues vs Penguins > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

dmiles2186 · Post by **dmiles2186** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:34 am

Evgeni Malkin and the Pittsburgh Penguins are gaining confidence and victories. The All-Star break may be the only thing that can slow them.

Malkin attempts to extend the longest goal-scoring streak of his career and help the Penguins earn a seventh straight win Tuesday night when they visit the St. Louis Blues.

The league leader with 58 points, Malkin will be one of two Penguins representatives at Sunday's All-Star game in Ottawa, joining defenseman Kris Letang.

Malkin is proving capable of carrying the Penguins (27-17-4) without superstar center Sidney Crosby, who is sidelined indefinitely due to a concussion. Malkin has nine goals and four assists during Pittsburgh's six-game winning streak, the team's longest since running off 12 in a row Nov. 17-Dec. 11, 2010.

Malkin has scored in every game of the current streak, the longest goal-scoring run of his six-year career.

"I have great confidence now, you know?" he said. "You win six games, I think everyone has great confidence now. I just am enjoying the game, you know? And having fun."

Left wing James Neal is also having a good time, with five goals and five assists during the winning streak while playing on Malkin's line. The duo is tied for the Pittsburgh lead with 26 goals apiece.

Neal's career high is 27 with Dallas in 2009-10.

"We're feeding off each other," Neal told the Penguins' official website. "Go to a soft spot and he's going to find you. I just try to get him the puck with speed at all times. He drags guys to him. We do a lot of give-and-gos and a lot of little plays to try and keep our speed. He's a lot of fun to play with. He's an unbelievable player."

Neal and Malkin have both enjoyed success against St. Louis (29-13-6). Neal has scored in each of his last two meetings with the Blues, including one goal set up by Malkin in a 3-2 overtime loss at home Nov. 23.

Malkin assisted on both Pittsburgh goals in that matchup, giving him three goals and three assists in five career games versus St. Louis.

The Blues are trying to rebound from a 3-1 loss to Detroit on Monday after going 8-0-1 in their previous nine.

St. Louis squandered an early lead against the Red Wings while racking up a season-high 49 penalty minutes, including three misconducts.

"We played good in stretches, but we crumbled when things got tight," right wing Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We got those retaliatory penalties. That takes away our momentum and gets us out of our comfort zone."

David Backes was held without a point Monday, while he had 14 penalty minutes. He had 12 points in his previous nine games.

Backes has three assists in five career meetings with the Penguins, but none at Pittsburgh in November.

Alex Pietrangelo won that contest for the Blues by scoring with 52.2 seconds left in overtime. The defenseman will now try to get back on the scoresheet after his career-high nine-game point streak ended Monday. He had three goals and 10 assists in that stretch.

gaijin · Post by **gaijin** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:46 am

Time to bounce back.

goon attack · Post by **goon attack** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:00 am

Time to crash the (Franking) net and play like men.

thedoc · Post by **thedoc** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:09 am

We need the same amount of intensity from last night's first period all through this game and we will steam roll them. They are on a 6 game win streak that we can end.

Blues 3

Pens 1

dmiles2186 · Post by **dmiles2186** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:29 am

Savor it, fellas. Our last Blues game in 9 days.

abc789987 · Post by **abc789987** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:04 pm

dmiles2186 wrote:Savor it, fellas. Our last Blues game in 9 days.

I know... wth am I going to do with myself.

I better get to watch this damn game. Right now my guide tells me the SD FSMW channel will have basketball and the HD FSMW channel will have the hockey game... Something tells me I'm going to be disappointed..

ibldbl · Post by **ibldbl** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:34 pm

Blues 3
Pens 1

Going into the break with a win.

Jeffrey99 · Post by **Jeffrey99** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:11 pm

abc789987 wrote: I better get to watch this damn game. Right now my guide tells me the SD FSMW channel will have basketball and the HD FSMW channel will have the hockey game... Something tells me I'm going to be disappointed..

Let me guess, live in Indiana and have Comcast? Im so over Comcast. Had DirecTV for years and could watch Blues or Blackhawks, switched to Comcast since we moved into a rental that wouldn't allow us to mount Dish. Overall Comcast has been complete crap. If Pacers play I can't watch the Blues even though I have 2 sd feeds and 2 hd feeds of FSNMW and they both always show the exact same thing.

AlsWoodenStick · Post by **AlsWoodenStick** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:18 pm

goon attack wrote:Time to crash the (Frank) net and play like men.

This, no stupid penalties and we should win this game.

glen a richter · Post by **glen a richter** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:30 pm

Second tough opponent in consecutive days to round out the pre ASG portion of the schedule. I can't help but wonder if the schedule makers planned it that way to deliberately (Frank) the Blues....

A bounce back from last night is crucial, and if they go out there and only put up one goal again, you know what? I'd be all for a trade sometime during these 9 days to get some kind of scorer on the roster right now. I think Hitchcock is a good enough coach that even if you have to bump out some core players to get that goalscorer, he can get whoever he has on the ice playing to his levels of acceptable. We know Cole and Fairchild can work at the NHL level if it means dumping a d-man (Cola) in a package and I don't particularly want to wait to see if (not when) McDonald comes back.

I will make two predictions... either the Blues come out on fire and win 4-0 or they get whooped out of the gate and lose 4-1.

Gaijin Flyer · Post by **Gaijin Flyer** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:20 pm

abc789987 wrote:
dmiles2186 wrote:Savor it, fellas. Our last Blues game in 9 days.
I know... wth am I going to do with myself.

Final study for my NRC exam next Wednesday for me. If there was ever a good week for no (Blues) hockey, this is it.

abc789987 · Post by **abc789987** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:22 pm

Jeffrey99 wrote:
abc789987 wrote: I better get to watch this damn game. Right now my guide tells me the SD FSMW channel will have basketball and the HD FSMW channel will have the hockey game... Something tells me I'm going to be disappointed..
Let me guess, live in Indiana and have Comcast? Im so over Comcast. Had DirecTV for years and could watch Blues or Blackhawks, switched to Comcast since we moved into a rental that wouldn't allow us to mount Dish. Overall Comcast has been complete crap. If Pacers play I can't watch the Blues even though I have 2 sd feeds and 2 hd feeds of FSNMW and they both always show the exact same thing.

bingo! haha. Stupid thing is the last three years I was able to purchase NHL Center Ice and watch the games through my ps3, but this year they changed the regions so now it's blacked out for me...

Jeffrey99 · Post by **Jeffrey99** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:15 pm

abc789987 wrote: bingo! haha. Stupid thing is the last three years I was able to purchase NHL Center Ice and watch the games through my ps3, but this year they changed the regions so now it's blacked out for me...

Lol. You'd think the NHL would be doing something about it and make sure their fans can watch their "home" teams game. Tried contacting Blues, they said I should be able to watch all Blues games on a alternate channel. Tried contacting Comcast. So far they haven't been much help at all. Can't wait to move and get back to DirecTV.

Winning Unlimited · Post by **Winning Unlimited** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:33 pm

Elliott's new goalie mask! Think he's excited for the ASG in Ottawa?

sseagle · Post by **sseagle** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:53 pm

Gotta bounce back... I wouldn't want to be some sort of stupid bird-team tonight..

abc789987 · Post by **abc789987** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:04 pm

sseagle wrote:Gotta bounce back... I wouldn't want to be some sort of stupid bird-team tonight..

Even worse being they can't even fly...

sseagle · Post by **sseagle** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:14 pm

abc789987 wrote:
sseagle wrote:Gotta bounce back... I wouldn't want to be some sort of stupid bird-team tonight..
Even worse being they can't even fly...

Well we lost to a team made up of dickless euro-weasels last night... so we need GOALS!

dmiles2186 · Post by **dmiles2186** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:22 pm

Great work by Osh and Berglund to kill the last few seconds of the penalty off there and then Osh draws the penalty to boot. Awesome.

Krigloch the Furious · Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:23 pm

Maybe our "skill" players will show up...
Na, doubt it

Oaklandblue · Post by **Oaklandblue** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:26 pm

Winning Unlimited wrote:Elliott's new goalie mask! Think he's excited for the ASG in Ottawa?

Now THAT is a Mask!

Let's Go Blues