There was no sophomore jinx for His Sidness this year as he posted his second 100 point season in what was just his second season in the HNL. Through 74 games, Sidney Crosby has scored 35 goals, helped on 78 others, and is a plus 7. With an average of 20 minutes and 44 seconds of ice time per game he leads all forwards.

But it is not just the fact that Sid the Kid has tallied 113 points thus far and on pace to win the scoring title. It’s also about the way in which he has done it. I still remember him sliding on the ice in front of our seats on his side at the Mellon Arena and with stick outstretched scoring one of the most memorable goals of his young career. Let’s not forget all the times that he has split defensemen and even gone one on three, four and even five to put pucks on net and make opposing goal tenders quake in fear.

And his ability to handle the puck? Sid is one of the top players when it comes to controlling the puck and skating around even while being hounded by the opposing defense. Sidney can take a puck with a defensemen draped all over him from behind the net and out to the circle as though he wasn’t even bothered while making quality one handed shots and passes.

But let’s not forget about how important the youngster is to this team on the power play. He has 13 goals with the man advantage and you can just see how much his talent is respected by opposing teams as they back off and often allow him to skate up and take good shots when he has the puck.

Without Sid? Well the Penguins might not even be more than a couple games over .500 if even that good.

The first period between the Pens and Bruins last night saw five of the six total goals scored in the first eleven and a half minutes of the game. It wasn’t until 11:30 of the third that Evgeni Malkin scored his 33^rd goal of the season to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

The Bruins scored early. Precisely 45 seconds in Boston’s Bochenski beat Fleury. Erik Christensen scored his 17^th at 3:20 to not the game at one. Then Armstrong scored his 12^th to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

Less than two minutes later Kessel scored for Boston to tie the game at two goals apiece. But Christensen struck for his second goal of the period about half a minute later to put the Penguins up for good 3-2. Sidney Crosby added three assists on the night.

The win gave Pittsburgh 100 points on the season and vaulted them over the Devils for first place in the Atlantic. The Devils currently have 98 points and a win tonight against the Flyers would put them back in the lead due to tie breakers.

The win also put the Penguins ahead of the Ottawa Senators by two points in their battle for 4^th place should Pittsburgh not be able to out muscle New Jersey for the top spot in the Atlantic. Ottawa takes on Montreal tonight.

The Canadians are currently in 8^th place in the East and only 1 point ahead of Toronto and 2 ahead of the Islanders and Panthers for that final sport and are in desperate need of a win.

The win over the Bruins last night continues an impressive March for the Penguins who are 8-2-0 on their last 10 and the most dominant team in the East over that stretch.

My Three Stars: Christensen (1^st), Crosby (2^nd), Fleury (3^rd)