Fleury's OK
Penguins fans everywhere can breathe a little sigh of a relief - Fleury's injury isn't that bad. On an awkward fall during a shot barrage in Thursday night's game against Calgary, Fleury left the game and would not return in what looked like a knee injury. As the game progressed, reports hinted that Fleury was on crutches in the dressing room and it was not his knee injured in the play, but in fact his ankle. The final prognosis Friday afternoon suggested that it was merely a sprain. Although listed day-to-day, he will no suit up in tonight's game against Vancouver.
Through some goaltending shifts in the system, the Wheeling Nailers opened their doors to John Curry, fresh off the Calgary Flames' minor-league affiliate in Las Vegas. David Brown was promoted from Wheeling to Wilkes-Barre in order to fill the skates of Ty Conklin. Conklin, although not expected to play, will be suited up and on the bench in tonight's game in the unfortunate event anything should happen to the reliable Dany Sabourin.
Sabourin is 5-4-1 this season, with a .914 save percentage and 2.34 GAA. "Sabu" made a supreme effort in Thursday's game, coming in cold off the bench to fill in for Fleury. Sabourin gave up only two goals in the 3-2 victory, and held his ground in the shootout.
The Fate of Mark Recchi
In other roster news, 39-year-old Mark Recchi, after initially being demoted to the minor league Baby Pens, has been claimed off re-entry waivers by the Atlanta Thrashers. Both the Pens and Thrash are responsible for half of Recchi's salary, roughly $875,000 each. In 19 games with the Penguins this season, Recchi recorded two goals for eight points. This move is the eighth of his career, on his fifth different team. Recchi spent three different periods with the Penguins from 1988-1992, 60 games in 2004-2005, and again from 2006 to his recent departure. In 2004, Recchi left the struggling Penguins squad to win a cup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
In what the media claimed to be tension surrounding the alternate captain position between Crosby and Recchi, he'd soon return to play for the youngest captain in NHL history. On January 26, 2007, Recchi reached the 500 goal milestone with the Pens, the same team he started his career with.
This move to Atlanta may in fact be the last for the NHL veteran, but his time spent in Pittsburgh was well spent and greatly appreciated by fans. It's a shame to see him go, but an overall consensus is many would rather see him end his career on an NHL team rather than a minor league affiliate.
12-8-07 Preview vs Canucks
Now that we got all of that news out of the way, it's onto tonight's game. The Penguins are hoping to wrap up their Western Canada trip with a three-game sweep and four-game win streak. They'll have to get past Robert Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks first.
Last season Dany Sabourin spent time as the backup for Robert Luongo, at one point even bailing him out during the playoffs when Luongo was sent to the dressing room for an undisclosed injury. Luongo would soon return, but the diarrhea would remain.* Sabu was perfect in net during the overtime play to keep the Canucks in contention.
Leading the way for the Canucks offensively is none other than the Sedin brothers. Unlike the Lindros brothers, these guys navigate and draw out plays all over the ice. Similar to the Crosby-Malkin combination (with the exception being they came from seperate wombs) if one brother has the puck, chances are he's looking for his brudda from the same mudda.
Henrik Sedin (28 points - 5-23) is just one point above his brother Daniel (27 points 11-16). The numbers prove more than just who is the stat leader, but also which one is the set-up guy and which is looking to put the puck home.
Although I have no evidence proving the two swap wives for laughs, or even talk in sync with one another, I do know they are exceptionally talented hockey players. They should be the main concern of the Penguins' D tonight, along with the likes of Marcus Naslund (26 points - 11-15).
Luongo has had a few tough games this season, particularly the one against Philadelphia where he gave up four goals on 13 shots before getting yanked off the ice. However, Luongo has also had some spectacular, jaw-dropping games as well. He's won four of his last five starts and recorded three straight shutouts against Chicago, Anaheim and Columbus. For the Penguins' sake, I hope he's off his game tonight. When he's on, he's unstoppable. Rather, unbeatable.
East Coast fans, tonight's puck drops at 10p.m. Eastern. It's a Saturday night - you can hack it.
*Not a fact, just an assumption
