News on the Pens and from around the league.

After a tough shootout loss to the Canadiens Tuesday night (which featured an amazing shootout goal by Evgeni Malkin!), the Pens are focusing on a busy weekend of home games.

Coach Dan Bylsma was stressing today after practice that the Pens need to be more dominant in games after some losses. We need to get back to shooting more and capitalizing on power play opportunities. The low goal totals we have been seeing in some recent games is just another reminder that we need more scoring down the lines and we can not always count on the top line to provide our offense. Hopefully, we see these factors in the upcoming games this weekend.

Another injury the Pens are familiar with is a high ankle sprain and it was announced that Tyler Kennedy has fallen victim to the injury and will be out approximately 4-6 weeks.
Jordan Staal was the unfortunate victim of an accidental stick to the face this morning at practice and needed some stitches. Luckily, it was nothing too serious and he will be fine.


After rumors have been floating around for quite some time now about the location of the 2013 NHL Winter Classic, it was confirmed and announced today that the 2013 Winter Classic will be played in Detroit at Michigan Stadium, where the Universoty of Michigan football team plays. The game will be played between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was also announced today that Comerica Park, where the Detroit Tigers play, will be home to the Hockeytown Winter Festival. This will be a week long event leading up to the Winter Classic featuring games and festivities.

Michigan Stadium will draw the biggest crowd for an NHL Winter Classic yet to date with 115,000 tickets being available in the large venue.
I was a little sad to hear the rumors about the venue a while ago because I enjoyed knowing that I attended the first official Winter Classic in Buffalo that had the largest attendance yet to date. Though, I still was able to attend the first official Winter Classic between the Pens and the Buffalo Sabres and the memories I have from that game are special and I will cherish them for the rest of my life.

Also, the trade deadline is fast approaching as it comes on February 27th. Not too much has happened yet around the league, but this may be the calm before the storm. We'll have to wait and see if the Pens will be involved in some trading or if it will be a quiet trade deadline for us.