Penguins Notebook: Vitale's two-year extension reward for tenacity, hustle
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Joe Vitale -- Says he has a lot of work to do
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Penguins center Joe Vitale maintains a particular perspective when it comes to his place in the NHL.
"There's a lot of skill, a lot of talent in this league," he said Friday after practice at Southpointe. "God hasn't given me the most talent as far as that goes, so I feel like I have to work harder to kind of keep up and stand out a little bit.
"It's been a good mentality so far. I've got a lot of work ahead of me."
The Penguins have rewarded Vitale with a two-year contract extension, through the 2013-14 season. It's a one-way deal with a salary cap-hit of $550,000 per season. He is making $512,500 this season.
Vitale, a third- or fourth-liner, has three goals, 10 points in 44 games. Although his playing time averages a little more than 11 minutes a game, and he has been a healthy scratch here and there, he's noticeable because of his speed, tenacity and physical play.
He has 63 hits, 24 blocked shots.
Matchup: Penguins vs. Boston Bruins, 1:08 p.m. today, TD Garden, Boston.
TV, Radio: Root Sports, WXDX-FM (105.9).
Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Tim Thomas for Bruins.
Penguins: Are 6-6 vs. Northeast Division. ... James Neal (214), Evgeni Malkin (210) remain 1-2 in shots in NHL. ... Are 24-16-3 without Sidney Crosby.
Bruins: Are 8-1-1 vs. Atlantic Division. ... Tyler Seguin led NHL with plus-30 before the games Friday. ... Have been shut out three times, all at home.
Hidden stat: Boston's Benoit Pouliot has eight goals, half are game-winning goals.
He also leads the team by winning 55.9 percent of his faceoffs and has gotten sniffs of time as a penalty-killer. Friday, he practiced as a penalty-killer against the top power-play unit.
Vitale, 26, a seventh-round pick in the '05 draft, played his first nine NHL games last season and made the roster out of training camp this season.
He was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1 but is relieved to have worked out a deal.
"They wanted to do something sooner rather than later, and, as a player, you want to get things done sooner rather than later, too," he said.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:00 am
