It didn’t look so good a few days ago. The Penguins won their first game after the Olympic break against Buffalo behind Brent Johnson. Then against New York Marc-Andre Fleury looked like he shouldn’t even be playing for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Penguins, got pulled and Johnson and the team rallied to win. Yesterday against Dallas it again did not look too good as Fleury and the defense let the team down early to let the Stars post a 3-1 lead that again required a comeback. Convincing as it was, with the Penguins winning 6-3, it was still worrisome.

Today against Boston Fleury looked like the #1 netminder he is. With the Penguins leading the Atlantic Division but New Jersey sitting in second with games in hand every point is precious and despite letting up the first goal and falling behind to Boston in the second period the team responded.

After Blake Wheeler (14) score to put the Penguins down, Pascal Dupuis answered back as the Penguins crashed the net and put a puck behind Thomas to tie it up at 1-1. Then Evgeni Malkin (23) scored early in the third to give the Penguins the lead and what would eventually be the win.

The Penguins defense played well, allowing just 11 shots in the first two periods but let up in the third to all that many in one period.  Although Fleury was up to the task to was tense to watch.  Jordan Leopold maintained his strong play and finish +2 while Ponikarovsky added an assist and a +1 to go along with his goal in his debut against Dallas.

The fourth straight win for the Penguins continues what has been a tradition as of recent years where the team puts the pedal down in March as they gear up for the playoffs. It also gives them a 5 point cushion over the Devils who skate later tonight and then still have two games in hand after that. Sixteen games remain for the Penguins then comes the playoffs but they cannot overlook any games or opponents because every point matters and a mini slump now could send the Penguins tumbling down the standings late in the year.

To say Marc-Andre Fleury had some rust when returning to between the pipes for Thursday night’s game against the Rangers would be an understatement. He was so corroded and full of holes that an anemic New York offense chased him from the net. Fleury faced only twelve total shots in 32:49 of action and allowed four goals.

Out came the hook and in came Johnson with the Penguins down 4-2 despite an offense that was completely smothering the Blue Shirts. Mike Rupp (12) answered the bell and brought the game to within one and Alex Goligoski (7) tied the game midway through the third as the Penguins clamped down on New York allowing just four shots in the remaining period and a half of regulation.

Then in overtime it was Evgeni Malkin (22) who scored with a 4-3 advantage after a Wade Redden hooking call. Game over. Guins win.

Fleury was obviously frustrated by his performance, refusing to even remove his mask as he sat on the bench for the rest of the second period. I don’t know if he was wearing his gold medal around his neck still and if that was the problem or not but for certain it was not a good performance from the Penguins starting netminder. The offense peppered the Rangers net for 55 total shots in what should never have even been a close game.

Newly acquired Penguins defenseman Jordan Leopold was even with two shots and 21:11 of total ice time. Bill Guerin was a late scratch.

The win vaulted the Penguins (38-22-4, 80 pts) over the idle New Jersey Devils into first place in the Atlantic Division by a single point and into second place in the Eastern Conference. The Devils have two games in hand however.

Saturday is a showdown with the Western Conference’s Dallas Stars and will mark the debut of rent-a-winger Alex Ponikorovsky for the Penguins who could not play against the Rangers due to visa problems. Ponikorovsky is in the last year of his current contract and comes to the Penguins from Toronto as a perennial 20+ goal scorer who looks to be placed on a line with Malkin and Fedotenko. He will probably command too much money for the Penguins to resign next year with all the cap implications that would be involved but I think he is a good addition to the team. Although I am not certain that long term it was a good move to trade away Luca Caputi who was looking ready to be a permanent NHL fixture and good goal scorer in exchange for a slight upgrade to a team that is already built have a good shot at winning another Championship.

The first game back from the Olympic Break resulted in a Penguins victory against the Buffalo Sabres as both starting goal tenders sat letting their backups carry the load. Miller sitting might have been understandable considering that he had just played two weeks of hockey for Team USA. But Fleury sitting is a bit of a mystery considering that he received his gold medal despite never seeing a single minute of game actions for Team Canada.

The game, which marked the debut for new defenseman Jordan Leopold, a veteran 29 year old blue liner, went well for the Penguins as they pretty much showed no real signs of rust against a great Eastern Conference team and wound up with a 3-2 victory, two points and kept pace with the New Jersey Devils who also won and remain a point ahead of the Penguins with a game in hand.

Gonchar scored his 200thcareer goal in what could very well be his last season as a Penguin as Leopold, who was a -1 in his debut for the Black and Gold provides the Penguins with another, although admittedly lesser, option on defense for providing offense.

What I am really waiting for is Saturday and the debut for the flightless birds of newly acquired rental player Alexei Ponikarovsky who came over from Toronto for the hefty price of Luca Caputi. Personally, I like Poni, or the Ukrain Train as he is known, but I do not like the Penguins giving up a man that has shown he was probably the best chance the Penguins had of a reliable NHL level scoring talentdeveloped from within the organization. That internal development is the best way to put a competitive team on the ice while not flirting with salary cap disaster as the Penguins are now doing.

Ponikarovsky is a free agent at the end of the year and at just 29.  As a proven reliable 20+ goal scoring wing it means he will probably command too much money for the Penguins to even think about resigning. But then again, if Goncharwalks looking for that one more big payday that does free up some money but I wouldn’t hold my breath.  The question for Gonchar is does he want more money or more championships and only he can make that decision on how to end what I think is a Hall of Fame career.

Mortgaging the future for quick benefit is a risky endeavor. I don’t think that the Penguins have destroyed their future and made winning future championships harder by dealing Caputi. But I don’t think they have made it any easier beyond this season.

O Canada! What has happened? Many people thought that a Canada – Russian match up would be for a gold medal in Vancouver not in an elimination game where the loser goes home without any medal at all.

Tonight the Canucks take on the Ruskies and Sid takes on Geno … and Ovechkin … and Gonchar. With the likely starter for the Canadians being Luongo, who has never risen to the challenge of being a big time goaltender and an entire team of “potential” on the ice, the guys from the Great White North are going to need a miracle.

So far the Canadians have not played up to what people have seen as their potential. They struggled in the preliminary round and their only two easy victories have been against teams that could probably be beaten by a good college hockey squad.

Thus my prediction is a Russian victory tonight when this bloodbath ends.  The Canadians will scratch and claw with all their might to not go quietly into the night. But what we have seen to date is a team of aged talent that hasn’t been able to prove itself. Crosby is their ace in the hole by Russia holds the trump in a pair of stars named Malkin and Ovechkin.

In order for this prediction to turn out wrong Luongo would have to have the game of his life. Either that or the Canadians would have to swallow their pride and get over the fact that Fleury lost a big game and disappointed his countrymen in World Juniors. Much has changed for the Penguins net minder since then and I think a Stanley Cup should be more than enough to get the stubborn forces of Canadian hockey to give the man who should be in goal the chance he deserves and his team more than a long shot chance to win tonight.

But that will not happen. So Canada had better pray for that miracle.

Canadians fully expect their Olympic Team to accomplish nothing less than gold in Vancouver. Things could not have gone much further askew from plans so far. After needing a shootout to beat a Swiss team that could not win in regulation, it was time to take on the good old U.S. of A. in a game that if you asked any Canuck what the outcome would be they would have predicted a home team blowout.

When the dust cleared however it was the United States men’s team that put some hurt on the Canadians posting a victory by the final score of 5-3 thanks to an empty net and superb net minding by Ryan Miller who repeatedly stoned a relentless, but mostly ineffectual, Canadian attack. At the other end of the rink Martin Brodeur was pretty much off his game and could not hold down the fort.

Miller stopped 42 of 45 shots. Brodeur had trouble stopping 18 of the 22 he faced.

Sidney Crosby scored late to bring the keepers of the Great White North to within one but it was Ryan Kesler that iced the game in the final minute when the Canadians scrambled desperately for the tie.

The win gave the USA a perfect preliminary round in which they gained a full nine of a potential nine points. The only other team to do such was Sweeden. With tie breakers however the USA earned the top spot in the finals and a first round bye while Canada nestles into sixth and prepares to face Germany in the first round.

The Canadians want a rematch. And all they have to do to earn one is win. And of course so does the United States.

The mood at the Igloo last night went from energetic to disappointment to frustration to jubilation to tense and back to jubilation over the course of sixty minutes of hockey in which the Penguins outlasted the North East Division leading Boston Bruins. Mark Letestu, who will probably be a permanent fixture for the Penguins at some point in the future baring a trade, which I think would be foolish, opened the scoring just 0:47 into the game as the Penguins stormed into the Bruins end on an odd man break. Tyler Kennedy fed the puck across the ice and to Letestu who buried a wristed over Miller and into the net for his first goal of the season.

There was energy that could be felt.

But all that changed at 5:15 of the first when the Penguins let in a power play tally by Derek Roy (12) to tie it and then an even strength goal at 6:03 by Thomas Vanek (17) to fall behind 2-1. Disappoint settled in and got worse as at 7:32 of the second Tim Kennedy (6) put the Bruins up 3-1.

Then came the show.

Three and a half minutes later after the Bruins staked a two goal lead on the defending Stanley Cup Champs it was Sidney Crosby (35) snapping a shot in behind Miller on the power play to cut the deficit to 3-2. Three minutes after that it was Jordan Staal (14) who buried the game tying goal. Three and a half minutes after that it was Crosby (36) again who beat Miller to give the Penguins the lead back on an unassisted goal.
Done? Ha! Not by a long shot! A minute and a half later Sidney Crosby (37) found the net for the third time in the period and for the hat trick giving the Penguins a 5-3 lead that had the Bruins reeling.

Pittsburgh and Buffalo played in each other’s end for much of the third period raking up 13 and 11 shots respectively. But the Penguins were holding until near the end. A power play goal with three minutes remaining by Jason Pominville (15) after a Sergei Gonchar tripping penalty made it a one goal game. Then the most bogus of penalties was called on Brooks Orpik at 17:56 of the final frame.

Orpik was nudging his man in down low with his free hand in the lower back and doing so both repeatedly and legally when all of a sudden the referee’s hand goes up, he points to Orpik calls a holding penalty on the defenseman leaving the Penguins to kill one final power play.

With Miller pulled and a six on four however the Penguins held the line and even got a face off down at the Bruins end of the ice at the end of it all to take the pressure off thanks to a puck played by a Bruins high stick.

Fleury played well enough to win the game despite a couple soft goals stopping 30 of 34 shots. The win was another important one for the Penguins who had to prove they could come from behind against a good team and a great goal tender and just one day after a grueling shoot out win against a struggling but still dangerous Detroit Red Wings squad. Pittsburgh (35-21-1, 71 pts) trails New Jersey by just a point in the Atlantic Division but the Devils have three games in hand over the champs.

Now it is a long layoff for Pittsburgh before playing on Saturday against the Montreal Canadians (25-25-6, 56 pts) who are 10th in the East and then a Sunday showdown in Washington against the best in the East Capitals (37-12-6 80 pts).