Season Ending Team Awards

The Penguins honored their players over the weekend with their annual season ending Team Awards.  Now before everyone goes chastizing the team for giving out their own awards, let me remind you that every team that I know of does this so it isn't some conceited Pittsburgh tradition. 

Team MVP - (self-explanatory) Sidney Crosby
Ed DeBartolo Community Service Award - (again, self-explanatory)  Sidney Crosby
*A.T. Caggiano Booster Club Award (the most 3-star games voted by the Pens Booster Club) - Sidney Crosby
*Baz Bastien Good Guy Award - (from the Professional Hockey Writers Association for cooperation with the media) TIE - Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury
Masterson Trophy Nominee - (NHL award for perserverance, dedication, and sportsmanship in the game) Bill Guerin
Players Player - (nominated by their teammates as the best player on and off the ice) - Jordan Staal
Defensive Player of the Year - Brooks Orpik

*Baz Bastien was the Pens GM from 1976-1983 who died unexpectedly from injuries (and a heart attack) suffered from a car-motorcycle crash in 1983.  He was on his way home from a PHWA dinner event at the time.
*Caggiano was a Pens locker room attendant for many years and also a member of the Booster Club.

Oh did I mention there was a game on Saturday?  Well the Pens won in overtime over the Thrashers 4-3.  The Thrashers pretty much had the 2 points wrapped up with the third period winding down.  Jim Slater got called for a boneheaded holding penalty with time ticking off the clock.  Sergei Gonchar scored on the power play, taking it into overtime. 

Jordan Leopold was able to get that extra OT point by scoring 2:50 into the period.  That was his long awaited first goal as a member of the Penguins. 

"To tell you the truth, it was just a shot that I put on net in the hope that someone was driving there." - Jordan Leopold on his overtime goal.

The win put Pittsburgh back in front temporarily until the Devils blanked the Hurricanes, knocking Carolina out of playoff contention and moving back ahead for the lead in the Atlantic.  The Devils hold the tie breaker against Pittsburgh since the Pens couldn't muster even 1 win vs. New Jersey this year. 

The magic number for home ice in round 1 is 1 game because of Ottawa's loss on Saturday.  We got the Caps on Tuesday, the Islanders on Thursday (last regular season game at Mellon Arena, EVER!!), the Thrashers again on Saturday in Atlanta, and the final game in NY against the Islanders for the second time in a week.