Penguins History: Duane Rupp

Next to Ron Stackhouse, perhaps no Penguin was less appreciated in his time than defenseman Duane Rupp. Ironically, the fans’ dissatisfaction stemmed from a similar cause. Like Stackhouse, Rupp was a big player for his day (6’1” 195) who didn’t fit the mold of a stay-at-home bruiser.

A product of the “Original Six” era, Rupp became New York Rangers property after winning the Memorial Cup as a member of the Flin Flon Bombers. Known for his huge hands—and slowness afoot—the MacNutt, Saskatchewan native focused on his defensive chores at first. However, as his confidence grew Duane displayed a genuine flair for offense, tallying 117 points over a three-year span with the Rochester Americans while earning All-Star honors.

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Penguins Topple Mighty Rangers 4-1

It’s hard to believe that scarcely seven days ago observers (like me) were ready to shovel dirt on the Penguins following their sixth-straight loss. What a difference a week makes. In arguably their finest effort of the season, the piping-hot Pens rode the stellar goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury and another big-time performance by Evgeni Malkin to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Determined to make a statement against the front-running Rangers, the visitors bolted from the starting gate like a pack of Kentucky Derby thoroughbreds. Just past the three-minute mark Paul Martin sailed down the slot and banged the puck off Henrik Lundqvist’s pads. Chris Kunitz pounced on the rebound and blew it past “King Henrik” for his first goal in eight games.

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Hot Rangers Melt Slumping Penguins 3-1

When the Penguins and New York Rangers clashed at CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night, it was a definitive case of two teams headed in opposite directions. While the streaking Rangers (8-1 in their last nine) had scaled to the top of the overall standings, the skidding Pens (7-7 since Nov. 29) were struggling to keep pace in the race for Atlantic Division supremacy.

Thanks to a quirk in the schedule that provided a full week off, the Penguins entered the contest as fresh as proverbial daisies. However, the extra rest did little to improve the team’s sagging on-ice fortunes. After jumping to an early lead, the Pens unraveled over the final 40 minutes and fell to their third-straight loss, 3-1.

Determined to make a statement against an upper-echelon foe, the Penguins played arguably their finest opening period in nearly three weeks. Pascal Dupuis set the tone two minutes in when he tested Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist following a takeaway by Jordan Staal.

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Gameday Poop: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Rangers – January 25

Game time is 7:00PM and can be seen in Super HD at MSG or regular HD on Versus

Where is Marion Gaborik, where are the Rangers? The Rangers have been shut out in 4 of their last 7 games and are slowly playing themselves out of playoff contention. The big thing going for the Rangers this evening is that the Penguins have yet to ring up a shutout this season. Marc Andre Fleury will be back playing goal with his special made glove hand glove. Talbot will not be returning even though he skated in practice today, Nick Johnson will once again be on Malkin’s line.

Goligoski who was injured late in the Philly game but kept on playing will sit tonight along with “Mustache Boy” Billy Guerin.  I’m sure Skoula will fill in for Gogo, and for some reason the Pens called up Chris Conner instead of Jeffrey or Caputi for Guerin. 

Some guy who plays on the Flyers named Arron Asham is accusing Matt Coooke of biting him when he stuck his glove into Cooke’s mouth and fish hooked him.  “He’s garbage to me and I have no respect for him at all” said Assam about the guy who scored the game winner against his team.  Assam, who made the Flyers team because they overpaid the rest of the team and the AHLer just makes above league minimum, I kid you not, said this after the game:  “You should have a little more honor than that. Usually, if you bite somebody you stick up for yourself and you fight the guy” Playing on the Flyers one of the first things they teach you is how to bite someone with honor. You can read it here:  “Some Guy Fom the Flyers Accuses Matt Cooke of Biting Him”

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Pens Win Opener: Beat Rangers 3-2

It was an electrifying evening at the old Igloo last night.  I think the town was buzzing more last night then any of the Stanley Cup games.  Everyone was in town early last night.  All of the usual watering holes were extra crowded, traffic was crazy and everywhere you looked you could see Penguin’s gear. 

For a miserable, rainy night, there were a suprising number of fans outside to watch the ceremony and game on Mario’s big screen.  It was great to see the energy exhibited by the fans last night.  I wonder if the support of the fans is going to keep up at this pace.  Are the Pens going to broadcast all the games outside?  It is only going to get better as the Pens move into their new facility across the street. 

Inside, the ceremony was presented very well, I thought.  The crowd was loud for the entire 20-25 minutes that the ceremony lasted.  I thought the Penguins did a very nice job with the whole thing.

Here are a couple of images that I captured last night.  Sorry about the quality, I took them with my Blackberry.

Oh, and by the way, the Pens won the game 3-2.  It was a great way to start the season.  I was pleasantly suprised by how well the Pens played.  That may sound weird, but I based that on what I had witnessed throughout the pre-season.  They really came together and played a nice game.

Notes:

• Goligosky looked very good.  I think this kid is going to have a great season.  He is going to make it easier to forget about the losses of Scuderi and Gill.  Having the luxury of three very capable (offensive) blueliners is going to do wonders for the powerplay.
• Both Crosby and Malkin scored.  Some in the hockey media are saying that Geno has the potential to really go off with some big numbers.  That would be great to see.
• Fleury made an amazing save last night to keep the game in check.  This guy is going to win games for the Pens.
• I think our boys are not going to fall into that “Stanley Cup hangover” so many people are talking about.  They are so young and so driven. 

Here is to a long and exciting season!