Last night due to a snafu without our babysitter, I wound up taking my daughter to the Penguins game against the New York Rangers rather than my wife and 2 month old son. She is still toilet training and wearing pull ups which, with about 5 minutes left in the first she proudly told me she had wet through and needed changed. With the score 1-1 we got up at a stoppage in play and went to the bathroom. Just as I was finishing changing her the horn sounded and the crowd erupted letting the few of us in the mens room before the intermission rush that the Penguins had just taken the lead. Barely a minute later as I finished packing up the diaper bag the horn sounded again and the crowd erupted again. It was now obviously 3-1 Pens and as we walked out of the restroom the usher was watching the monitor above the door.

I asked who scored the last two goals and he informed me that it had been Crosby (13) and Talbot (1). I remarked saying it was about time because Valiquette for the Rangers had looked shaky for the 15 minutes of the period that I had a chance to watch. I said that there would be a lot more.

How right I was. Although apparently the hosts of the post game show on 105.9 disagreed with me and thought that Valiquette played well but his team had quit on him, it was obvious to anyone that was watching the game that the Rangers back up goalie was not playing at all well and would be no match for the Penguins now mostly health lineup.

But like the day before against the Islanders, a game which the Penguins let slip away, it was clear that the Rangers were not going to go quietly. Early in the second period Matt Gilroy (4) scored to cut the lead to 3-2. Then with 3/10ths of a second remaining in the period Mark Eaton (3) found the back of the net after the Penguins refused to just dump the puck and concede that a one goal lead headed into the third would be enough.

That was a good thing as just 0:33 into the third period former Penguin Michal Rosival (1) beat Fleury to make it 4-3. That however woke up the sleeping giant as the Penguins poured on the offense for the rest of the game. Sidney Crosby (14, 15) scored twice more for a hat trick on, surprisingly enough, a night where the free giveaway was hats and Dupuis (7) and Missssterrrrrrrrrrrrrr Tyler Kennedy (6) added two more goals for an 8-3 victory.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped just 22 of 25 shots on a night were despite holding the net well he often looked like he was scrambling and uncertain.

Towards the end however the Rangers gooned up taking any Penguin they could find with them for a scrap. And of course Sean Avery had to get involved taking a solo fighting major, game misconduct and instigator penalty with just over six minutes remaining in the game to put the Penguins on the power play for the remainder of the contest. However the Penguins really did not seem all too interested in racking up more goals and were obviously content to control the puck and run down the clock.

It was all a sad spectacle from the Rangers (13-12-1) considering that they have a chance on Monday night to settle scores as the Penguins (18-9-0) visit them in New York.

Notes:
Chris Bourque was scratched to make room for Tyler (Mister) Kennedy in the starting lineup following his return from injury. Bourque is playing on borrowed time it seems with the Penguins. He plays hard and is aggressive but he has only managed 3 assists in 18 games and is a -4 with the Penguins this year despite playing along side of some of the premier players in the league. How much longer the Penguins keep Bourque on the active roster when there are other talents in the minors making a case for playing time is anyone’s guess.

Hard to believe that the Penguins have been as banged up on the blue line as they have considering that they are sitting atop the Atlantic Division. It is almost like the loss of Gonchar, Letang, Goligoski and McKee, each for several weeks and at the same time, did not matter as players like (Dr.) Ben Lovejoy, and Deryk Engelland have filled in nicely and kept the defense sound.

Well, this morning it was announced that Lovejoy and Engelland are heading back to Wilkes-Barre and that means that unless some combination of Letang, Goligoski and McKee are ready to return to the lineup the Penguins would be short handed on defense heading into tonight’s important divisional match up against the Rangers.

Each of the three injured regulars, according to reports, are cleared to play which means the Penguins should for all intents and purposes be back to full strength this evening.

Now, about that struggling power play …

It could have been Montreal’s last visit ever to the Igloo last night. Baring an always possible playoff meeting between two Eastern Conference foes, Montreal will have to deal with that potentially last visit being a loss. With last night’s 3-1 victory, thanks to lots of on the ball … uh puck … saves by Fleury, the Penguins have pretty much trounced the Canadians this season by a goal total of 9-2. They have now won four straight against the Habs.

The Penguins took advantage of a Montreal squad that had to come from behind the night before and limited them to just 17 shots on net. Had there been more, the score might have turned out differently as Fleury definitely saved the Penguins bacon with several great plays and a little bit of luck. The Penguins accomplished the low shot total on Fleury by pressing the attack in the Montreal zone for most of the night.

The Penguins received goals from Crosby (12), Guerin (6) and Gonchar (3) to stake out a 3-0 lead heading into the third period that they would not relinquish. Crosby scored on a rare shot from high at the left circle that surprised Carey Price. Guerin bashed a loose puck between Price’s pads in the second and Gonchar took a puck right up the middle and opened up Price for the Penguin’s third goal.

The win was the Penguins 17th in 25 games this season and ties a team record. The club also won 17 of its first 25 in 94-95 and 95-96.

After last night the Penguins held on to first place in the East with 24 pts just ahead of Washington who also has 24 pts but fewer wins also in 25 games. Montreal sank to 12-12-1 and are still struggling with injuries.

The Penguins however must face a back to back test this week on Friday and Saturday. On Friday the Pens have to travel to Long Island for a 2:00 PM scrum with the 9-9-7 Islanders and then return home Saturday to host the 13-10-1 Rangers.

After loosing four games in a row as the Penguins injury situation looked bleak, the Penguins have since been getting more healthy and have gone 5-1 in their last six games.

The Florida Panthers have a problem in the third period of games against the Penguins this season. Last night was the second time that the Panthers had a 2-0 lead heading into the third only to watch it vanish away into thin air and ultimately lose 3-2.

Pittsburgh just simply looked like they wore down the Panthers as the night moved on peppering Vokoun with 45 total shots (11, 12 & 16). Meanwhile the Penguins defense, despite allowing two goals in two periods played tougher as the game went on allowing just 21 shots on Fleury who was solid in net. In the third period they allowed just 3 shots and 0 in the overtime.

The Penguins used third period goals from Dupuis and Rupp to tie the game. Then in overtime, a rarity. The referees missed an obvious high stick on Brooks Orpik and play continued until Vokoun froze the puck after it looked like there would be a non-call. The linesman then informed the Referee of the penalty and Horton was shown the box and assessed a double minor.

It was time for the power play and it was Sidney Crosby who, eventually corralled a puck off the pad of Vokoun and a Malkin shot and buried it in the net for the game winner and cap the comeback for the cardiac kids.

The win continued to help the Penguins who, while not as injury riddled as just a few weeks ago, still are missing a few key players. The Pens are now 16-8-0 with 32 pts after fans wondered how much damages the injuries would cause to the team’s record, they are now atop the East and the only team to not loose a game in overtime in the East. They return home to host Montreal (11-11-1) Wednesday night on Thanksgiving eve.

Brooks Orpik returned to the lineup after missing a few games as the Penguins took on the surprisingly good Atlanta Thrashers last night. With the Penguins starting to get healthy again, but coming off a terrible loss to the Senators, fans were hoping for a better outcome. And they got it thanks to Martin Skoula, the Penguins seventh defenseman at the beginning of the season.

Skoula added the first two goals of the game for the Penguins, his second and third of the year in 14 games, and both coming at almost the exact same time in the first and second frames. In the first he scored at 7:38 and in the second he scored at 7:34 to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Perhaps the Penguins have found the magic that will enable him to score looking at this? Ok, new game plan! At 7:30 of each period pass to Skoula and let him shoot!

Hey, stranger things have happened.

The Penguins climbed to a 3-0 lead later in the second as Malkin (6) beat Hedberg who kept Atlanta in the game all night as a seemingly thoroughly pissed off Penguins team looked to rebound and take revenge against someone for their uninspired loss in Ottawa.

In the third Atlanta tried to come back scoring a short handed goal (how about that power play huh?) and with just 18 seconds remaining to cut the score to the final of 3-2. Fluery made 31 saves on 33 shots and Hedberg made 31 on 34. Fleury was on his game again last night flashing leather and stopping pucks that two years ago would have been by him.

The win put the Penguins back on top in the Atlantic over New Jersey. Pittsburgh improved their record to 15-8-0 (30 pts) and a one point lead over the Devils who have two games in hand. The Penguins head to Florida Monday night to take on the Florida Panthers before returning home one Thanksgiving Eve to host the Montreal Canadians.

It is becoming rather obvious, after both last season and this season, that there is something drastically wrong with the Penguins power play. Yeah, yeah, make all the excuses you want about Gonchar being out. I am not buying it. Even last year with him on the point running the show the team struggled with the man advantage and they won the Cup inspite of the power play not because of it. All such talk is simply excuse making for a unit that drastically underachieves.

A lot of people have talked about changing the way the Penguins play with the man advantage and it is obviously a problem. Aggressive penalty killing units that go after Crosby or Malkin on the wall, where they seem to like to try to set up from, are causing them fits. Just like last year.

This article gets harder and harder to write each day. Now, with Jay McKee announced to miss two to four weeks it gets even harder. Every time I think about the solution another body winds up in the M*A*S*H ward.

While I think that changing up the mode in which the power play operates is ultimately the solution, I don’t think that it is going to happen with the units as they currently are comprised. This is because the number one unit is so powerful with both Malkin and Crobsy, that it just looks like they are trying to finesse every puck into the net making pass after pass until a lane opens up. Either that or they are taking ill advised shots which bounce away harmlessly because they are shooting into groups of three defending players and pucks never get on net.

The answer is to, I think, get Crosby and Malkin off the same unit. Ok, all you wannabes out there that think you understand hockey can yell at your computer screen all you want now. You can yell until you are blue in the face about how it is insane to not put together the “best” power play unit you can which means Malkin and Crosby on the same line. But I will simply point out that if the unit does not produce goals and continues to struggle so mightily it is obviously not the “best” unit that could be out there.

I honestly think the first unit tries too hard and baring some dramatic change in the heads of those out there on the ice it is going to continue to struggle.

My suggestion is two units, each one run by one of the Penguins biggest stars.

First Unit:
C – Sidney Crosby
W – Michael Rupp
W – Bill Guerin OR Matt Cooke
Point – Sergei Gonchar (he is expected back for the Ottawa game tomorrow)
5th man – Ruslan Fedotenko

Second Unit:
C – Evgeni Malkin
W – Jordan Staal
W – Craig Adams
Point – Martin Skoula
5th man – Bill Guerin OR Matt Cooke

I understand that doing this might put some players outside of their comfort zone. If so then get them used to it in practice. Drill and drill some more with these lineups. At least until the injury situation gets under control. These are much grittier units than we are currently seeing out of the Penguins and you have to play gritty, I think, on the power play to be consistent. You have to have someone willing to stand in front of the net and be a nuisance to the goal tender.

On the first unit you would have Rupp and either Guerin or Cooke to put two guys that could take turns swinging in and out of that area while Sid and Sarge work up high and Fedotenko roams, possibly even going behind the net to fetch pucks. He knows how to forecheck.

On the second unit you would have Craig Adams and which ever of Guerin or Cooke was not out there on the first unit to go down in front of the net while Malkin plays high with Skoula (our poor man’s Gonchar) and Staal going where he needs to go and fetching pucks or sneaking in for a redirect.

Basically I think that the Penguins need to stop trying to set up low along the boards and work high. I think they need to set up high where someone with the talent of a Malkin or a Crosby can survey the ice better. Right now they are getting hemmed in on the boards. And I do understand the concept of tying to set up low. If a puck is not handled cleaning it has a better chance of staying in the zone than a missed pass out to the blue line. I just do not think that it is working all that well.

Setting up high and letting skilled players dance with the puck and play catch at the blue line while preferably two players crash the net and draw defenders I really think would pay dividends compared to the perimeter power play the Penguins currently seem to be employing.

Once everyone is back healthy I would like to see everything look like this:

First Unit:
C – Sidney Crosby
LW – Michael Rupp
RW – Matt Cooke
Point – Sergei Gonchar
5th man – Ruslan Fedotenko

Second Unit:
C – Evgeni Malkin
LW – Jordan Staal
RW – Craig Adams
Point – Kris Letang
5th man – Max Talbot

The way I look at it is what do the Penguins have to loose? The power play is terrible right now and changing things up either produces the same results or something better. It certainly cannot get much worse!