Kunitz had better pay dividends for the Penguins because they gave up a lot in Ryan Whitney to get him. In his first game with the Penguins, Kunitz helped power the Penguins past Chicago by providing a powerful and aggressive presence on the ice netting a goal and an assist playing along with Jordan Staal. With the way those two played together they might still be looking for someone to slap on the wing with Crosby even though Kunitz was supposed to be that man.

The Penguins jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead last night against the Blackhawks on a goal by Jordan Staal (16). A shot by Sarge was not handled well by Huet and Staal roofed the rebound with energy that he has not had since signing his contract extension. The Penguins then went up 2-0 as Kunitz (17) slipped a puck softly under Huet’s pads.

But penalties would be the Penguins nemesis. Late in the first period Tyler Kennedy (who later left the game with illness) took a hooking call and Toews (23) scored his first of three goals on the power play to make it a 2-1 game. Toews would have had four goals on the night had he not batted another power play chance down with what was, despite moans from Blackhawk fans, a clear high stick.

The Penguins regained a two goal cushion in the second after Toews (24) tied the game thanks to goals by Satan (16) and Talbot (9). But in the third, the Penguins went into a shell and let the Blackhawks beat on them with twenty shots. Two of those twenty found the net and tied the game. The Penguins had a golden opportunity to put pressure on Antti who replaced Huet in the third but simply could not.

So into overtime the contest went. The Penguins carrying over a late powerplay set up in the Chicago end 4 on 3. Gonchar came high and had only one man in sight – Evgeni Malkin. Sarge fed him the puck and Geno fired it to the back of the net behind Antti for the win.

The Blackhawks got really lucky last night as the only reason the game was not 4-0 or worse before they scored their first goal was the play of Huet who made some incredible saves on great opportunities by the Penguins who seem to be taking their playoff run seriously. Finally.

The win moved the Penguins record in February to 7-4-1 and their overall record to 31-26-6 (68pts) and still a point out of the playoff race. On Sunday the Penguins face another Western Conference foe in the Dallas Stars in Dallas.

Dallas is 5-5-0 in their last 10 games and are hanging on to eighth spot in the West and will be desperate for a win against the Penguins who are 6-3-1 in their last 10 and trying to get into the playoffs.

… Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi who is a prospect. This season Kunitz has 35 points in 62 games this season with 16 of those being goals. He’s a perpetual 20 goal scorer especially on a team like the Penguins. Tangradi has 38 goals and 87 points in the OHL this season. Nothing overly indicative of any real talent as the minors are filled with players putting up impressive numbers against subpar talent.

Shaking it out, you have the Penguins dropping about $4 million in cap room but picking up Kunitz for $3.725 million and getting a little bit of an upgrade. You have the Penguins relieving themselves of a player who has not played up to his potential (but then again have any of them this year except maybe Malkin) for a guy who has managed 81 goals over four seasons which is pretty decent.

I have been saying that one of the Penguins defensemen were going bye-bye this year based solely on the number we were carrying. I even said it would be one of the offensive defensemen. But I really thought it would end up being Gonchar because he had the most value and a year left on his contract (if I am counting 5yrs correctly). I knew Letang was safe and figured it would be Goligoski or Whitney. But for some reason, I don’t know why, this trade just doesn’t make my nipples hard yet. That’s probably because the team as a whole hasn’t done that either.

Lots of people do not seem to like Whitney. There are even a couple in my office who have some unfounded resentment for the man. I think it is probably because he spoiled us by have that one really kick butt season which landed him his $4 dollar deal and people sort of expected him to keep getting better despite still being young and this year playing on a team that under performed. I hope these people that hated him and are joyous to see him leave are happy because I think he is going to be yet another player that in a couple year they are going to wish was still with the Penguins. All I can say is thank God he is in the Wester Conference so he can’t burn us much.

Perhaps with Whitney gone, does this mean that the Penguins are going to work to lock up Gonchar for a few more seasons? I hope so because he is the most underrated defenseman in the league if you ask me and certainly has a few more years left in him.

Looking at the standings today, then Penguins are still four points out of a playoff spot in the East. The question is can they make it into one of the top eight spots before time runs out?

Let’s look.

Ahead of them are:
BOSTON 50 GP 88pts 5-3-2 in their last 10
WASHINGTON 59 GP 79pts 7-2-1 in their last 10
NEW JERSEY 60 GP 79pts 6-4-0 in their last 10
PHILADELPHIA 57 GP 71pts 6-4-0 in their last 10
MONTREAL 60 GP 69pts 3-6-1 in their last 10
FLORIDA 59 GP 68pts 7-3-0 in their last 10
BUFFALO 60 GP 68pts 5-4-1 in their last 10
NY RANGERS 60 GP 68pts 2-6-2 in their last 10
CAROLINA 60 GP 65pts 6-4-0 in their last 10

The Penguins are 64pts with 22 games remaining and are 5-4-1 in their last 10.

Let’s look at teams last 10 games played as an indication as to how they are playing right now and down the stretch. If we take that as an indication of how each team will play until the end of the season the standing would look like this:

1 BOSTON*
2 WASHINGTON*
3 NEW JERSEY*
4 PHILADELPHIA
5 FLORIDA
6 BUFFALO
7 CAROLINA
8 PITTSBURGH

With Pittsburgh just getting in with 88pts. Of course this is simplistic. The Penguins while 5-4-1 in their last 10 have played well enough to be better than than and Montreal and the Rangers will likely not both continue to slump as badly as they have been which is what opens up the last two slots for Carolina and Pittsburgh. If one of those teams gets hot it makes the Penguins chances more remote.

It isn’t over yet but the Penguins need a win today against Washington to keep the fat lady on the bench from warming up.

Despite the score of 5-4, Saturday’s game against the Flyers was not as close as that. The Penguins definitely carried the play for the majority of the game and played strong defensively. Two broken sticks and a thoughtless giveaway which lead to a short handed goal are the only reasons the Flyers were even in the game at all.

Fleury faced only 27 shots as the Penguins continued to improve their play as of late playing the same system under Bylsma as they played under Therrien. Again leading me to ask why even have a coaching change.

The Penguins fell down 1-0 in the first as Biron weathered a storm of shots and Lupul (17) scored for the Flyers midway through. But the Penguins stormed out in the second and just 21 seconds in, Sidney Crosby (22) tied the game. The Penguins kept pressure on and added goals from Malkin (27) and Fedotenko (12) to conclude the period up 3-1.

In the third, Richards stole the puck on a cross ice pass while the Penguins were on the power play and looking to extend their lead. Richards went in alone against Fleury and opened him up to scoot the puck through his five hole to cut the lead to one. Philadelphia scored again to tie the game at three and then Fedotenko (13) scored his second of the game to put the Penguins up 4-3.

Philadelphia came back again with a goal from Knuble (21) but then the Penguins got a bizarre goal to make it 5-4. 4-4 the Penguins broke into the Flyers zone and Biron came way out to the circles to take away the puck. Biron then flipped the puck softly behind his back where it was picked up by Pascal Dupuis who fed Crosby who put the puck in the empty net.

It was the second game in a row where the Penguins had to struggle to get a win and the second game in a row they managed two points with a 5-4 victory against teams ahead of them in the standing.

The win moves the Penguins to 29-25-6 (64pts). Ahead of them, Montreal is battling Ottawa this afternoon and is up 2-0 at the end of the first, Carolina has beaten Tampa Bay 4-1, the New York Rangers play Buffalo this evening (so the Pens will gain at least a point on one of them) and Florida also plays later on today.

I won’t mince words. The Penguins pulled perhaps the biggest boneheaded move of the season by firing coach Michel Therrien following the team’s collapse against the Maple Leafs in a game the Penguins should have won on paper. One can hardly make a legitimate case that that game could have been the straw that broke the penguin’s back considering that the team finally started to show signs of life over the past few games playing both Detroit and San Jose, the two best Western Conference teams, well in that stretch. Sure the Leafs loss was unacceptable, but nothing that was new for this team!

It isn’t even arguable that the team had not been playing better as of late although inconsistency continued to plague them.

However, to fire coach Therrien after a game in which a sickly Sidney Crosby looked winded after every shift and a game which saw Fedotenko suit up again for the first time in weeks as well as Sergei Gonchar who had not played all season (and played well too!) is hardly sane. The problems of this team have never been about coaching. It has always been players lacking discipline and aggression, something that only the players can deal with themselves. No amount of coaching fixes that.

Therrien could not be expected to finish off checks for the girls on the ice.

Therrien could not be expected to correct all the bad passes into traffic by players who should know better about where to put the puck.

Therrien could not be expected to crash the net and hold the hands of his players.

Therrien could not be expected to walk out on the ice and put players in proper defensive or offensive possition.

Heck, Therrien could not even be expected to make Satan shoot more. Although he should have benched him long ago.

Now the team belongs to Dan Bylsma. At least temporarily. And we should remember that it is still the same team. Nothing has changed with the players so regardless of how the team performs here on out, it is as I have stated the players and not the coach that will determine the fate of the 2008-09 Penguins.

However I do have a few suggestions for Coach Bylsma. These are things that I would do if I were the coach and the players were not giving it their all or playing solid hockey.

1) The Pussy Shirt

Which ever player plays the most uninspired, girly like period must wear the “pussy shirt,” a pink t-shirt, under their uniform for the entire next period. Reasons for getting assigned the “pussy shirt” include, but are not limited to, not jumping in to defend your teammate, not finishing off a check and giving an opponent just a little love tap with a glove, or not going around the crease looking for rebounds in the offensive zone.

2) The Endless Shift

If three forwards EVER give such an uninspired effort in a period that the coach would normally want to bench or demote them, those players will start the next period and play the entire period or until they can no longer skate. At which point they will be hauled off the ice and sent to the showers not to be seen for the rest of the game. Hey, if you want to play like crap, why should the rest of the team suffer? Let the other team score 20 goals. Maybe someone will get a message.

3) No One Is Untouchable

You play like crap, you are benched the next game. I don’t care whether your name is Brooks Orpik or Sidney Crosby. If by this point in your career you cannot play fundamentally sound hockey then you will sit back and watch other people who can. I do not care who you are. Maybe you will learn something.

Well, let’s look at what is going on with the Penguins today shall we? Philippe Boucher is out indefinitely after having foot surgery … he’s done for the season.

Fedotenko appears ready to go after recovering from a broken hand.

Gonchar is on the road trip with the Penguins and a decision on his availability will be made after the morning skate tomorrow. He has been cleared by team doctors and if he does play, the question will be how much.

Luca Caputi has been sent back to Scranton-Wilkes Barre despite his grit and hard play. Apparently the Penguins feel that with Fedotenko coming back Caputi was the odd man out behind Minard and, dare I say it, Satan? Ok, so Satan isn’t going to be demoted. I doubt his contract would even allow it. But I think Caputi was playing stronger than Minard.

We’ll see what happens on Valentine’s Day when the Penguins try to show some love to the Toronto Maple Leafs.