Brooks Orpik

Despite the aggressive move made by Garth Snow to acquire Dan Boyle’s negotiation rights prior to the opening of free agency, early reports indicate that Boyle will choose to sign with a new team once he is eligible to listen to other teams on July 1st.

Boyle originally stated that he would have an answer for the Isles by the end of the week. As of today, Boyle's agent George Bazos told Arthur Staple of Newsday that there is nothing new to report since there really isn't a timetable for Boyle to make up his mind (Photo credit: aff ei/Flickr).

Staple notes that the Isles may not be willing to be as patient with Boyle and could look to flip Boyle's rights to another team in order to get back the draft pick they gave to San Jose. You may remember that Snow did the same thing a few years back with defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped game one of their series against the New York Rangers in terrible fashion on Friday night. There were multiple instances of horrible turnovers and poor positioning that inevitably led to a Rangers victory.

The Rangers Benoit Pouliot was the most visible player on the ice for a majority of the game. He played physical and smart, leading his team with a goal and an assist. His line mate, Derick Brassard, scored the overtime winner after a horrible Rob Scuderi turnover below the net.

Matts Zuccarello failed to register a point in the game, but certainly had himself a strong afternoon. His mix of speed and tenacity helped keep the Penguins top line ...

How does a team bounce back from a game in which they surrendered four unanswered goals? They put 51 shots on net while having an even strength possession time above sixty percent.

That is how strong the Pittsburgh Penguins were on Saturday night.

Snapshots:

Crosby and Malkin played a total of eleven minutes together in even strength situations. It was a desperate move for Dan Bylsma, but certainly paid off. Malkin and Crosby dominated the puck all night long, proving that their goal drought is nothing but bad puck luck.  Crosby, Malkin, and Kunitz had 15 combined shots as a line.

Brandon Sutter hasn’t just played well; Brandon Sutter has become a cataly...

When teams have a two goal lead, the announcers like to bring up the old adage that this is the hardest lead in hockey to hang on to.

They might have a point.

In three games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team with the two goal lead in the game has gone on to lose said game by a score of 4-3. Pittsburgh was victorious in games one and three, Columbus won game two.

For the first time in this series the special teams were not special. There was not a single power play or shorthanded goal scored in this game despite ten combined power play chances.

Here are a few observations so far from this series.

Standouts (average ice tim...