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Penguins Notebook: Armstrong thrust into a new role
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Colby Armstrong, the former Penguins fan and locker-room favorite, was in a new role when he returned to Mellon Arena last night with the Atlanta Thrashers.
He replaced right winger Bryan Little on a scoring line with center Todd White and left winger Slava Kozlov. Little missed the game because of a rib injury.
It was a move Thrashers coach John Anderson had no trouble making.
"He's got 10 goals" going into the game, Anderson said. "It's not that he can't score."
Armstrong, a one-time winger for Penguins center and close friend of Sidney Crosby, has not scored more than 16 goals in a season, but is on pace to eclipse that.
"I'm just going to try to play my game with those guys, try to create some room with them and go to the net," he said after the Thrashers' morning skate.
Armstrong, 26, primarily has filled a blue-collar role in his career but has gotten more diverse opportunities with the Thrashers than he got with the Penguins and their depth of skill players. For instance, he has spent time on the second power-play unit.
Still, he doesn't boast about supplanting the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk, Kozlov, Little or White as Atlanta's top scorer.
Nor, he said, has he made any bets with Crosby -- who entered the game with 15 goals -- to see who will score more this season.
Armstrong and center Erik Christensen, who went to Atlanta in the same trade with Armstrong in February, expressed confidence that the Penguins' recent slump is an anomaly. The Penguins entered the game having lost five games in a row overall and their past five home games.
"When I was here, we went through some patches when [the media] was on us about not keeping up to expectations," Armstrong said. "You go through times in the season where it's tough. We started off the season last year not where we wanted to be but we -- they -- ended up pretty good."
The Penguins advanced to the Stanley Cup final.
Christensen is mildly surprised only by the Penguins' scoring drought.
"Even with just their top two or even three centermen, you would think they would have no problem, but it happens to everyone," he said. "Everyone makes such a big deal of it, but they're going to be a good team. No matter what, they're going to break out of it one of these days. I'm not worried for them."
Another former Penguins forward, Chris Thorburn, agreed.
"Every team throughout the year -- the season's so long -- is going to fall into slumps," he said. "But they're so talented, there's no doubt in my mind that they'll get it back."
Angelo Esposito, another player in the Penguins-Thrashers trade, has a stick headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It's the one he used to score the winner Monday in Canada's 5-1 victory against Sweden in the World Junior Championships in Ottawa. It was Canada's fifth title in a row.
The Penguins went with the same lineup for the second game in a row, scratching defensemen Hal Gill and Alex Goligoski and forward Tim Wallace. ... Crosby, on the mostly somber atmosphere around the Penguins in recent days: "It's always like that when you're losing. It's typical. Nobody likes to lose. ... Winning solves a lot. Winning is always the answer." ... The Penguins canceled their morning skate. ... Forward Chris Minard, who leads the American Hockey League with 26 goals for the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre minor league club, was selected as a starter for the Canadian All-Star roster for the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic.
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Date.....Opp......Time.....TV
1-8.....Predators.....8.....FSN
1-10.....Avalanche.....3.....FSN
1-13.....Flyers.....7.....FSN
1-14.....Capitals.....7:30.....FSN
1-16.....Ducks.....7:30.....FSN
1-18.....Rangers.....3.....NBC
1-20.....Hurricanes.....7:30.....FSN
1-28.....Rangers.....7:30.....FSN
1-30.....Devils.....7.....FSN
1-31.....Maple Leafs.....7.....FSN
2-3.....Canadiens.....7:30.....FSN
2-4.....Lightning.....7:30.....FSN
2-6.....Blue Jackets.....7:30.....FSN
2-8.....Red Wings.....3.....FSN
2-11.....Sharks.....7:30.....FSN
2-14.....Maple Leafs.....7.....FSN
2-16.....Islanders.....2.....FSN
2-19.....Canadiens.....7.....FSN
2-21.....Flyers.....1.....FSN
2-22.....Capitals.....3.....FSN
2-25.....Islanders.....7:30.....FSN
2-27.....Blackhawks.....8:30.....FSN
2-24.....Sharks.....L, 2-1.....FSN
3-1.....Stars.....3.....FSN
3-3.....Lightning.....7:30.....VS
3-5.....Panthers.....7:30.....FSN
3-8.....Capitals.....3.....FSN
3-10.....Panthers.....7:30.....FSN
3-12.....Blue Jackets.....7.....FSN
3-14.....Senators.....3.....FSN
3-15.....Bruins.....3.....FSN
3-17.....Thrashers.....7:30.....FSN
3-20.....Kings.....7:30.....FSN
3-22.....Flyers.....3.....FSN
3-25.....Flames.....7:30.....FSN
3-28.....Rangers.....1.....FSN
4-1.....Devils.....7:30.....FSN
4-4.....Hurricanes.....7.....FSN
4-5.....Panthers.....5.....FSN
4-7.....Lightning.....7:30.....FSN
4-9.....Islanders.....7:30.....FSN
4-11.....Canadiens.....7.....FSN
Home games in bold
@ - Stockholm, SwedenHome games in bold• A month from ...
Pertinent numbers for the Penguins since Dec. 4, when they defeated Carolina to go to 15-6-4:
Category.....No.
Record.....4-10-0
Goals scored.....39
Goals allowed.....52
Place on Dec. 4.....4th•
Place on Jan. 4.....9th•
• -Eastern Conference overall standings
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First Published January 7, 2009 12:00 am
