Dan’s Daily: Penguins Rancor; Bruins Brawl; Heat on Sabres GM

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ recent run of stellar goaltending, responsible play, and good defense crashed and burned Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche, and there were some players who were unhappy with the team afterward. There was chaos in Winnipeg where the Jets embarrassed the Boston Bruins, but then the fights broke out, and the coaches bickered from bench to bench. There’s increasing heat on the general manager in Buffalo, where fans are absolutely fed up. Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette wants to scratch his entire team, and the NHL trade rumors are ready to swirl around the Calgary Flames red-hot defenseman Rasmus Andersson.

I must confess, I haven’t accidentally slept in a long, long time. I had a humdinger of a Penguins Report Card that I wanted to finish around 5 a.m. and expound on what I considered a rancorous Penguins locker room, but I suppose some sleep before a nine-hour drive to Montreal this morning isn’t terrible.

I will do a live Penguins Car Talk on the way as a substitute for a Live Chat. I’ll see if I can con someone into co-hosting with me so they can read the questions to me. Otherwise, I’ll have to go solo with pre-submitted Qs on X.

The locker room was a bit surprising on Tuesday. Perhaps it was just the people I spoke to. I chatted with Kris Letang one-on-one for a minute or two before the herd joined in. He was salty. I probably did more than hint at that, as well as my tinge of surprise at Tristan Jarry’s comments, too.

So, let’s get to it and get me on the road.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Soft goals and terrible mistakes spotted the Avalanche a 3-0 lead, but the Penguins nearly climbed out of that hole. However, abysmal power plays that sapped the life from the team and more mistakes turned it into a lopsided affair. No one writes a gamer like Dave Molinari, and here’s the Penguins postgame.

The Penguins’ locker room was an odd place. I think some players were mad at each other and mad at themselves, and they’ll need to figure it out. Even Mike Sullivan was caught between anger and disbelief. You can see what I mean: go inside the Penguins’ locker room.

The Athletic ($): I never link to the competition, but I’m going to in the case because I think it’s fair. Sidney Crosby was a bit irked by the boos in the third period after they had a bad power play. The boos weren’t overwhelming, but there were some (you guys in the corner section really like to boo everything, eh?). I’m not sure of the appropriate word to describe Crosby’s comments, but they had a bit of “what the hell, people?”

It was a bad game all around, but sometimes you get a clunker. I will tell you, most of the guys in the room really believe they can be competitive and feel like the losing skid was a stepping stone.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Oh my gawd! The Pirates are actually doing something, anything this offseason? After whiffing on every free agent and failing to improve their team in any way, GM Ben Cherington swung an honest baseball trade, giving up a young pitcher in exchange for a competent first baseman with team control. Here’s the Pirates trade.

Also, you never want to miss it when John Perrotto dishes some thoughts and analysis. Here’s his Pirates trade reaction.

There’s also plenty of coverage of the MLB Draft Lottery, which the Pirates lost. Check out the PBN homepage.

NHL Trade Talk

Sportsnet: This story slipped by me the first time, but it’s making the rounds. I was really … really impressed with Rasmus Andersson in the Penguins’ pair of games against Calgary this season. Despite being signed for another season after this one, trade talk is percolating.

If he becomes available, you’ll see a few teams offer up their firstborn.

Daily Faceoff: Podcast and transcription–Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News turned up the heat on Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, especially after his defensive press conference last week.

I often wonder if I had stuck around on the inside of hockey, if I could have followed some others who got jobs in management and rose up the ranks toward GM. Then I wake up and realize that I would give snotty, sarcastic, and defensive answers, and the media would make a shishkabob out of me. “Seriously, do you watch the games or know anything about it?!” Yeah, that would be me.

Sportsnet: Nashville’s frustration is growing, and the losses are mounting, too. When asked about the scratches, Nashville’s coach Andrew Brunette responded scathingly that he’d like to scratch the whole team! It’s getting tough in Nashville.

Boston Hockey Now: The coaches were yelling at each other. The teams were dropping the gloves in succession. It got U-G-L-Y in Winnipeg as the Jets trounced the Bruins. Andrew Fantucchio has the Bruins mess.