Michalek, Orpik and Asham injury updates at 1:09 PM entry...
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1:28 PM:
Coach Bylsma also said that goaltender
Brent Johnson will get the start in net for Pittsburgh Friday night against the Islanders.
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1:27 PM:
Coachspeak with Dan Bylsma...
On Michalek’s injury:
I was hoping for him to play last game, but that’s a situation where you have to wait to even have your muscles calm down to get evaluated. It could be anywhere, so it’s relatively good news, in terms of the length of time of what he’s dealing with.
On Deryk Engelland:
You have to bring your game to the table. Everyone has to do that, and Deryk has proved what he can be. He’s been physical in the games he played against other teams’ skill guys. He was hitting Kovalchuk and Parise in New Jersey. And he added that aspect to our game last night, in a game where, as a first year guy, he took it upon himself to give our team a spark. He did it with a guy who’s a pretty tough customer. You have to wonder why he fighting him a little bit. I’ve seen Deryk and he’s really tough, and that definitely added a spark to our bench and it got the crowd back into it.
On what he wants to see different from his team:
You have to go with the process and figure out how you’re going to be a good team, and you have to have different aspects of a good team. Those aren’t secrets, having good special teams, good goaltending, good defense. A team that makes plays has to play a certain way and have players on the same page. You have to have players playing certain roles and doing certain things. We were very good in the preseason and we saw those things, but the regular season is a different story and we know that. But we can’t add those things up. We’re a good team. We could have won some of those games, for sure. We’re trying to win hockey games, but we’re trying to put elements of being a good team together. Some of that may be special teams and some of that may be goaltending. We have to get better in those areas and have desperation to get those things.
On why Mike Comrie was scratched:
Mike is a guy who adds offensive ability and can play in different spots. And he did do that to some degree, he could have three points right now if we hit an open net or it doesn’t clang off the post to a guy he passed to. Just puck battles on both ends of the rink and being hard on the puck and being able to make those plays, everyone looks differently.
Mike Comrie is not going to be
Matt Cooke, but he has to be able to do that and be those things for the power play and for his line and do all those things on the rink both offensively and defensively. He got scratched in last night’s game, but he will get another opportunity.
On if he dressed Eric Godard in Wednesday’ game because the Maple Leafs have an enforcer-type:
That certainly was a part of it.
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1:23 PM:
The Penguins announced the rest of
their blue third jersey schedule.
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1:20 PM:
Sidney Crosby was given the day off by the coaching staff. We caught up with the Penguins captain in the locker room following practice.
On taking the day off to rest:
It’s just a maintenance day.
On how he feels about wearing the blue uniforms:
Well, the record is usually the reason for how we feel about (the blue uniforms). Hopefully we start off right. But it’s always the case that if you win, then you don’t mind wearing them.
On being frustrated:
Nobody likes to lose, but I think through the first four games, we’ve done some pretty good things and had some pretty good chances to score. We still have things to improve on, but there have been a lot of good things, too. We can always look at other situations and scenarios. I look back to last year, we were 9-1, but we didn’t really play that well. You still want to win obviously, but that’s hockey sometimes. It doesn’t always seem fair, but that’s the way it works.
On his scoring chances:
I feel good. There’s frustration that comes with not creating chances, and there’s frustration that comes when they seem not to go in. When you’re creating them, that’s a big part of it. As long as you keep doing that, they’re going to go in, and you’re going to get your bounces. But I feel good and I feel like I’m creating things out there. We’ve all done a pretty good job of creating chances, it’s just a matter of having it go in.
On streaks like this, where chances just don’t seem to go in the net:?That’s the way it works: There’s not a lot that I would change on certain plays. You just hit posts, or the puck bounces the other way. Other times you get one shot and it ends up in the net. That’s the game of hockey and that’s why you work to create as many as you can every game and give yourself the best chance.
Assist T-Bone
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1:09 PM:
Dan Bylsma had a couple of updates on some injured Penguins:
"(Michalek) has an upper-body injury," Bylsma said. "It's tough to estimate, but 2 to 4 weeks on Z. Brooks is day-to-day.
Arron Asham skated today. He was out indefinitely, now it's around two weeks." Bylsma also noted that he gave forwards
Sidney Crosby and
Maxime Talbot the practice off for maintenance days. ___________________________________________________________________________