The Wilkesburgh Penguins

Remember this logo put out by Zephyr as a spin on the skating penguin? Tonight's game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers should have some sort of mash-up between the Pittsburgh and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton logo with everyone the Penguins have out right now. And what's causing this mass exodus out of the Penguins' dressing room? The mumps! Luckily, the Penguins have a solid farm club who doesn't play until Saturday, so they can pick up the slack for the fallen flightless birds!

The image to the right is the actual line-up playing in Sunrise tonight for the Penguins. A number of regular are missing from the line-up, replaced by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's finest. They included goaltender Jeff Zatkoff who arrived at the arena tonight in Florida at 7:05pm - just 25 minutes before the game was scheduled to start! There are a lot of names that might not be recognized on that line-up as Steve Downie, Thomas Greiss, and Brandon Sutter were all sent home as a precaution for mumps testing. You just hope that none of the guys filling in get afflicted with the mumps!

Here are the guys that the Penguins are using tonight to fill out a roster. I'll post some info beside each name as well so that you get a sense of the shorthanded situation they're in. Ready?

• Scott Harrington: 2 NHL games total. 115 AHL games.
• Brian Dumoulin: 11 NHL games total. 180 AHL games.
• Andrew Ebbett: 209 NHL games for five NHL teams in nine seasons.
• Bobby Farnham: 4 NHL games total. 176 AHL games. 593 AHL PIMs.
• Bryan Rust: 4 NHL games total. 28 AHL games.
• Taylor Chorney: 61 NHL games for three NHL teams in seven seasons.
• Derrick Pouliot: 1 NHL game total. 24 AHL games.

Four of those guys are defencemen, and the Penguins are actually using Chorney as a forward tonight in Florida. Like the Jets, the decimated Penguins blue line is getting the job done with the young kids. The Penguins trail the league-leading Anaheim Ducks by a point, and are 7-1-2 in their last ten games despite the mumps taking over the Consol Energy Center!

The Christmas break might be the best thing to happen to the Penguins after they finish this road swing in the Sunshine State because there aren't many bodies left on the farm! After tonight's game against the Panthers, they'll head up the interstate to Tampa Bay for tomorrow's game against the Lightning.

Let's just hope no one gets injured tonight!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!