Penguins Notebook: After 1,170 games, Guerin wants to keep going
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WASHINGTON -- The Penguins' 4-3 shootout victory against Washington yesterday at the Verizon Center was right winger Bill Guerin's 1,170th NHL game, and he understands that his career can't go on forever.
He just doesn't see a good reason for it to end anytime soon.
"I'm 38, but guys play a lot longer than that," Guerin said. "Guys keep themselves in better shape than ever nowadays. I still love the game, and want to continue playing."
If his performance against the Capitals -- Guerin assisted on the Penguins' first two goals and scored their third -- is any indication, he has a good point.
Certainly, his center for the past two games doesn't disagree.
"He looks great," Sidney Crosby said. "He has a great shot, a big reach and he's a strong guy. He's scored goals for a number of years consistently and, hopefully, he can keep doing it."
Guerin, who was acquired from the New York Islanders at the NHL trade deadline Wednesday and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, has 17 goals and 23 assists in 63 games this season.
That includes a goal and three assists in two games with the Penguins.
Penguins defenseman Kris Letang made a horrific -- and potentially costly -- mistake midway through the first period yesterday, when he was responsible for a turnover that led to an Alexander Semin goal.
Letang had the puck behind his goal line and, while attempting to feed it ahead to teammate Evgeni Malkin, shot it into the body of Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom, who was directly in front of him.
Backstrom promptly threw a pass to Semin, who moved down the slot and tossed a backhander by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the score, 1-1.
"I just tried to hit [Malkin]," Letang said. "And it was not the right play to do. It was a mistake."
Although the Penguins are 8-1-1 in the 10 games since Dan Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien as coach, they remain something of a work-in-progress.
Bylsma didn't abandon all the elements of Therrien's system -- in fact, he kept more than he discarded -- but the Penguins still are getting acclimated to the finer points of what he wants them to do.
"Our foundation isn't in place from the first 20 games, the way we want to play now," Bylsma said. "We're still working on that.
"I think we have gotten much better, have a clear picture in our minds about how we need to play to have success. It's a matter of honing that game, and bringing it every night."
Although Alex Ovechkin scored the Capitals' only power-play goal yesterday, Washington defenseman Mike Green already has 16, tying the team record set by Scott Stevens.
That total placed Green in a tie with Buffalo's Thomas Vanek going into last night's games, behind only Mike Cammalleri of Calgary, who has 17.
That makes Green a legitimate threat to become the first defenseman to lead the league in man-advantage goals since the red line was introduced for the 1943-44 season, although that apparently hasn't been a major source of motivation for him.
"I didn't even know until a little while ago," he said. "My job is to make sure I'm producing on the power play. I really haven't thought too much about it."
The Penguins played without right winger Petr Sykora, who is believed to have a shoulder injury. ... Washington's franchise-record run of sellouts at the Verizon Center ended at 11 Tuesday. ... The Capitals are 26-4-2 when getting a goal from Ovechkin.
First Published March 9, 2009 12:00 am
