I was certainly impressed with the Penguins 5 goal explosion in the third period against the Rangers on Wednesday. But I temper than feeling with knowing that I sat though a horrific second period watching Fleury keep his team in the game; a game they should have rightfully been loosing by two or more goals when the third period started.

As it stands today, the Penguins are 24-21-4 (52 pts) in the East with 49 games down and 33 games to go. If they want to make the playoffs they are going to need to get to at least 90 points and even that would be cutting it close. In all honesty, this team needs about 21 (42 pts) more wins to not just make the playoffs, but be in a respectable position heading into the playoffs and be considered a contender to return to the Stanley Cup Finals. That means winning 64% of their remaining games or getting enough points through ties, wins and OT losses to make 42 pts happen.

Can they do it? Well, in their last six they are clicking at 67% when it comes to winning and they certainly have some cream puffs on their schedule between now and the end of the season. But beating up on teams like Tampa Bay, the New York Islanders, the Maple Leafs and even the Los Angeles Kings isn’t going to be enough. They need to not only get the points, but do so beating the Devils, the Candiens and the Bostons of the league too.

This team has the talent. But they have to use it. Tonight they have to use it against divisional foes, the New Jersey Devils.

The Rangers came into Wednesday’s night contest with a game under their belts and their legs back under them. Although they lost that game the night before, they were taking on a Penguins team who, with the exception of Malkin and Letang had not played in a game in over a week if you can count the All Star game and he Young Stars Game real “games” that is.

Even though Godard blasted Orr into a pulp off the opening draw and bought the crowd to its feet as the two fought, when Zherdev opened the scoring just 2:24 into the game, beating Fleury on the Rangers third shot it looked like it would be another long night for Penguins fans. Few certainly expected the outcome would be a 6-2 Penguins rout powered by five third period goals. But that is exactly what those in attendance witnessed.

At the end of the first period, the Penguins and the Rangers were tied at 1-1 thanks to a goal scored by Sykora (18) just a little more than four minutes after the opening marker. Fleury then held the team in the game during the second period, making several great saves as the defense collapsed around him and the Rangers peppered him with 18 shots. Also, in what seemed like a trend as of late, the Penguins also seemed unable to buy a penalty call through the first forty minutes of play. While the Pens had to kill off penalties called to Dupuis, and Talbot (twice), they could not get a Ranger to the box. But all that changed in the third period.

In that period, Rangers wore out a path to the penalty box and the Penguins found their offensive and defensive strides. They put sixteen pucks on net while only allowing eight and got goals from Staal (15), Letang (2, 3), Sykora (19) and Crosby (18) to simply bury the Rangers for the second time in two home games against them.

The win is certainly something the Penguins need who, since a horrid stretch that most of the players and the fans would like to forget, have gone 4-2-0 in their last six with their losses being an eminently winnable 2-1 loss to Carolina and a game against Washington in which the team just failed to play hard for 60 minutes and lost 6-3.

Its another good step in the right direction, but they need to keep winning to have a shot at the playoff and will need to win against New Jersey on Friday night to keep any momentum they may have.

If you have been wondering what the prognosis for Mike Zignomanis is and when he will return to the Pens lineup, wonder no more. Zigomanis underwent rotator-cuff surgery Saturday and will be four to six months meaning he is done for the year.

So no more Mr. Automatic in the face off circle this year.

As you know I gave up my Penguins tickets to the Rangers game so that I could rest up for and attend the Steelers-Ravens AFC Championship game at Heinz Field. It was a great game, although I question the wisdom of repeatedly running Willie Parker up into the offensive line for 1 and 2 yards all night and I still question whether Sweed is ready to play football after he once again dropped a pass after cleaning beating the defender. But the good news is that in the battle of the two best defenses in the NFL, Pittsburgh’s D reigned supreme and taught Joe Flacco what it means to get a good butt whopping, picking him off three times including one by Polamalu for a TD that sealed the deal.

Congratulation to the Steelers and good luck in Tampa Bay and Super Bowl XLIII. Ken Whisenhunt has a score to settle after not being offered the Steelers head coaching job so the team had better come to play and kick some butt in order to win.

Impressively the Pittsburgh Penguins played perhaps their finest game of the season against the New York Rangers on Sunday. It was a game the Penguins desperately needed to win to prove that they were worthy of being considered a playoff contender. The Rangers, who lead the Atlantic Division, are a quality team and with Sunday’s victory as well as a victories over Philadelphia and Anaheim in the last week have restored confidence in a team that needed something to hang their hat on.

Pittsburgh is now 4-4 in their last eight but 3-1 in their last four and scratching their way back into the playoff hunt.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned a shutout stopping all 33 shots the Rangers got on net and Crosby returned to the lineup after sitting out one game with an injury. With goals from role-players like Minard (1) and Kennedy (8) and also a marker from Sykora (17) the Penguins earned, truly earned, a victory. The players called up from Wilkes-Barres Scranton filled their rolls well and if they can keep playing with the intensity of Sunday’s game, it will lead to some tough decisions to be made as injured players become healthy over the next couple weeks.

The win moves their record to 23-20-4 (50 points) and leapfrogs them over Florida for the 8th playoff spot in the East. To hold onto that spot they will likely need to win against Carolina (21-20-5, 47 pts) on Tuesday. The game against the Hurricanes will be the last before the All-Star Break.

Yesterday the Penguins made a move and brought in Mathieu Garon to backup Marc-Andre Fleury while sending Dany Sabourin and Ryan Stone to Edmonton. Apparently the Penguins see Curry as good enough to back up Fleury next season because Garon is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and his return would be unlikely.

Sabourin has not impressed that much as of late and the move is not that surprising. It is however a minor move to shore up a team that is trying to limp into the playoff picture.