Crosby Sticks up for Flower

So any Pens fan will (grudgingly) agree: Flower is in a slump. He has a 1-6-0 record thus far, got pulled from the game against Phoenix and Bylsma has all but announced that Johnson is going to start in net on Wednesday. Crosby, who as this article perfectly put has "walked the company line" during his captaincy thus far, stuck up for his teammate and disagreed with the coach. He strongly feels taht Flower needs to play to overcome this funk. "He's going to have good games. It's not like he can change overnight. He's going to put strings of games together, and he can't do that with one game. So, you've got to be patient, too, and let him get back there," he said after a practice at Southpointe Iceoplex. "With a goalie, you've got to give him time. He's got to play four or five games maybe to prove that, but to sit here and question his psyche doesn't really give him a chance." 



(Sid's always got Flower's back)

Really, there's been tons of talk about Flower's playing and people who know their hockey a lot better than me aren't panicking so I'm not about to. In fact, one reporter completely broke down all the goals against Flower in the first 5 games and found that, really, he wasn't playing that badly. Sure, a few shots he had a chance to get, maybe one he definitely should've gotten but otherwise, no chance.

Like this report stated,"During the Stanley Cup run against the Red Wings, he played awful and got pulled in Game 5 at Detroit. He responded by facing elimination at home for the second year in a row against the very same team that beat him the year before, and he posted consecutive 2-1 wins in Games 6 and 7, making huge clutch saves in the process." If his response to awful play and getting pulled is to turn around and win the Cup? You just keep doing what you do then Flower.

Flower will bounce back, we know this. But it's also nice to see that the guys have each others' backs... even if it might piss the coach off a teense.

In other Penguins news, Max Talbot has set up his charity foundation, rightly named the "Max Talbot Foundation" and is on his way to raising money to set up an orphanage in Haiti (recall that he and Mike Rupp visiting Haiti at the end of the summer). One way he and the foundation are going to be fund raising is through an auction - of hand painted shoes by a collection of the Penguins players.