Last night’s game against the New York Islanders was something the Penguins needed. At least going in and on paper and through the first half of the game anyway. The Islanders were 8th in the Eastern Conference heading into the game but only because they have been surging as of late with a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games. The Islanders are still not a major threat to the top teams in the East. Yeah, they may finish with a respectable or even good record at the end of the season. They might even finish above some of what are considered the elite teams in the Atlantic. But it will be through a sheer force of will and over achievement.

Coming off an up and down road trip where they lost two but won three, the Penguins were no doubt looking forward to coming home to the Igloo for a game against the Islanders before taking on the much more elite Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

And everything started off well enough. For a period and a half the Penguins dominated staking out a 3-0 lead and even scored twice on the power play which featured some wrinkles that were not there two weeks ago. Sidney Crosby (31) opened the scoring late in the first period picking up a rebound and burying it into a yawning cage. Early in the second Evgeni Malkin (15) lit the lamp on a 5 on 3 power play to bring the crowd to its feet. Bill Guerin (16) scored on another power play three and a half minutes later and no doubt stunned the Islanders who were wondering what was going on considering the Penguins never seem able to accomplish such feats and my running joke is that the Penguins should decline all penalties because they have been that bad with the man advantage.

Andy Sutton (4), who was later ejected from the game for launching Pasqual Dupuis into the boards from behind and injuring him, scored midway through the second to cut the score to 3-1. Less than a minute and a half later though Sidney Crosby (32) scored again to reestablish a three goal lead.

Then the wheels started coming off. Brent Johnson, who had played spectacularly in relief of the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, couldn’t stop a puck to save his life. Half a minute after Sid scored, Freddy Meyer (1) answered for the Islanders.

The bleeding continued in the third period. 0:48 in Trent Hunter (9) scored to make the score 4-3. Then at 7:11 of the third Richard Park (4) knotted the whole game up at 4-4.

It took a power play goal by Malkin (16) at 11:09 to put the Penguins up 5-4 and the completion of the hat trick by Malkin (17) at 19:30 to seal the deal. The Islanders presenting the Penguins with an net empty and on the Penguins on the power play again thanks to a major penalty on Sutton’s boarding penalty and Malkin walked in and buried it for the 6-4 win.

Brent Johnson finished with 31 saves on 35 shots and recovered towards the end to salvage what could have been an ugly loss had he not. The win moves the Penguins more securely into 4th place in the East at 31-19-1 with 63 points.

Malkin’s hat trick will no doubt spark talk about the Penguins super star finally getting out of his long funk but one game does not a slump end. Time will tell and the Penguins have a much bigger test on their hands tomorrow night than the Islanders.

I have been holding my tongue the past few weeks because the Penguins have gone from contender to joke in the East. They have accomplished this stunning feat because of several things from poor defensive unit play to shoddy goal tending by Marc-Andre Fluery who seems to be looking ahead to the Olympics more than keeping his mind on what he is doing in net on any given night. But as poor as those things have been the number one reason this team is faltering is because of the power play.

I’ve talked about it before and I think it just might be time for Coach Bylsma and some of the other so-called “experts” to maybe take a listen rather than mock the ideas that I have put forth in the past. Namely that it is time to split the Malkin/Crosby unit into two distinct ones.

Oh I know the excuses. The players claim they are getting their chances and that there is nothing major wrong. The pundits claim that it would be insane to not put your three best offensive threats on the ice together (Crosby/Malkin/Gonchar). But get down out of the clouds for a second!

For the better part of two years the Penguins preferred PP unit has struggled. It is far worse this year but be honest, last year was not all that great either considering the talent level on the ice. Moving Malkin to the point hasn’t worked either and I honestly do not see how putting Malkin back in the circle and moving Crosby to the point would help much despite what some people have said.

I know the inevitable complaint too! Oh how can you tell one of the Pen’s superstar centers that they are not good enough to be on the number one unit? Uh, hello, Earth to space cadets! They play on separate lines most of the game and are deemed affectionately 1 and 1A! You seriously expect me to believe that doing the same with the power play would hurt their egos any worse than this?

Some of you out there are just too enamoured with having one super unit. But that super unit is playing 1:45 out of a two minute PP and not scoring! And let’s face facts here; no one fears the #2 unit!

Suck it up. Let’s try something different!

PP #1 (starts the PP if Malkin is on the ice when penalty call is made)
Crosby
Cooke
Rupp
Gonchar
Kennedy (Point)

And before someone complains about Kennedy on the point, have you seen the way this guy can skate with the puck? Have you seen the way that he puts pucks on the net for rebounds?

PP #2 (starts the PP if Crosby is on the ice when the penalty is called)
Malkin
Staal
Fedotenko
Gonchar/Letang
Goligoski (point)

Yes, Go Go has struggled but this is a guy that the Pens have invested in. Time for his trial by fire! Either sink or swim time.

So what do you say Coach? Wanna give it a try?

I know, Heaven forbid some bozo like me with a blog might actually be right huh?  But I will tell you this, what you are doing is not working.  And doing it over and over despite it not working is leading me to believe that you are insane!