Quickly approaching the halfway point of the 2009-10 NHL season and the main problem for the Pittsburgh Penguins remains. That problem is an anemic power play.

Ok, since Malkin moved to the left point a few games back there have been signs of a pulse for a unit ranked dead last in the NHL despite having more talent than most teams have on their entire roster. Last night against New Jersey however the Penguins power play was once again a liability going 0-5 and giving teams no reason to fear the unit and not take penalties.

Scoring on just one or two of those man advantages might have turned what ultimately was an embarrassing blowout into an actual contest. But no. Instead Penguins fans were once again left to watch Malkin, Crosby and Gonchar struggle for no apparent reason.

This is getting ridiculous and something serious needs to be done soon. Otherwise, mark my words, the Penguins will end up loosing a round in the play offs if their power play is not corrected.

I think moving Malkin to the point is a good change. But I still think a better change is getting Sid and Geno on separate units altogether. Because as bad as the first unit has been with them both on it, the second unit has been even worse and even less of a threat to opponents.

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.

It was a night of back and forth hockey as the Penguins finally found ways to score goals, partially thanks to the return of Evgeni Malkin who had missed two weeks resting and injury. But as the Penguins scored so did the Boston Bruins. Until late it was the Penguins that would go up on the scoreboard and then force the Bruins to answer. At 17:31 of the third it was Marco Sturm that gave Boston their first lead of the night 5-4.

Brent Johnson started in net for the Penguins. Why, I don’t really know. Perhaps it was just to shake up the team which had struggled mightily the past few games with large portions of its Stanley Cup championship team out of the lineup with a variety of injuries. While he has played well this season, it still baffles me.  But the start of Johnson proved a mix blessing at best for every time the Penguins scored he seemed to allow a soft goal or a goal that was a result of him misreading a pretty obvious play. On Boston’s first goal, for example, with a Bruin (Krejci) set up behind the net, both defensemen moved to take the man with the puck. Numbers has been something that the Penguins have lacked when going for pucks and on this play they decided to overwhelm, and neutralize the puck carrier. Johnson saw this, yet he still seemed more concerned with the man behind the net rather than Blake Wheeler moving to the opposite post. Johnson looked like he was expecting a wrap around out to his right from the man behind the net (who was completely neutralized) and he got beat by the man coming to his left. It was a pretty bad play.

However, Johnson also made some spectacular, if not frantic saves throughout the game. It was a love hate relationship I had with him all night long as I sat in my seats in section D-7 and watched.  He finished with 28 saves on 33 shots.

Yes, all looked lost as the clock ran down in the third as the Penguins, with their goal tender pulled and down a goal could not seem to get anything going and were trapped in their own end. Then with the clock at 0:10 there was signs of life. A stick broke on the Bruins side and Sidney Crosby passed up to Malkin who gained the Bruins zone. The clock ticked to 0:04. Then Malkin found Billy Guerin racing down the far side of the ice and as the clock wound to 0:02, Guerin let loose a shot that beat Tim Thomas with just 0:00.4 left on the clock.

The crowd errupted in cheers thankful that the Bruins had missed several shots at the open net. Malkin and Crosby played side by side most of the night and while they had been productive from the opening puck drop, there was no doubt as the clock wound to 0:00 and the third period came to a close tied at 5-5 that the two headed monster was indeed alive, well and very, very hungry.

Malkin in his return finished with 3 assists and a +3. Crosby finished with 1 goal, 2 assists and a +3. But the hero of the game? That would be Pascal Dupuis who, in overtime, took a feed from behind the Bruins net from Jordan Staal who raced for a loose puck and caught Tim Thomas flat footed at the side of the cage. The puck squirted free to Dupuis who shuffled the puck into the empty net for the 6-5 win.

The Penguins spread the love last night getting goals from five different players including two defensively minded defensement. The goal scorers for Pittsburgh were Jay McKee (1), Pascal Dupuis (4, 5), Sidney Crosby (10), Mark Eaton (2) and Bill Guerin (4).

The win stops the Penguins four game skid and boosts their record to 13-7-0 (26 pts) ahead of Monday nights game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Two days after the Flyers Scott Hartnell was so desperate to know what winning a championship tastes like that he bit Penguins Defenseman Kris Letang in the waning moments of a game in which the Penguins matched the beefed up Flyers rough and tumble style, the Penguins were looking down the barrel of the gun again. Last night the Penguins entered the Great Goonish North to square off against the beefed up, ready to kick your teeth in Toronto Maple Leafs and the result was the same – the Penguins won and the goon squad lost.

The Penguins are proving that they can play teams any way they want to play as they extended their season record to 4-1 while getting scoring Cooke (1), Gonchar (1), Crosby (3,4) and Jordan Staal (2). Staal once again playing on Malkin’s line is giving Coach Bylsma plenty to think about as the young center could have a monster year playing in that coveted role if he remains there all year. Craig Adams once again proved that he could take Staal’s place on the third line by turning in another strong performance.

Despite several fights which did little to spark the Maple Leafs or their fans it was really just an exhibition being put on by the Penguins all night with the Pens superstars dangling with the puck in the offensive zone, Brooks Orpik passing out free candy as if Halloween had already arrived and Marc-Andre Fluery stopping pucks 18 of 20 times to backstop the Pens to victory.

Final score 5 -2 … now the Penguins take a short trip across Canada to prepare to play the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Toronto remains winless on the young season at 0-4-1 and the fans were obviously restless during last night’s contest as they mock cheered Toskala a couple times for easy saves and rarely cheered loudly even after Toronto players attempted to switch momentum with fights.

Oh, it’s the obvious headline I suppose to call what happened last night at the Igloo Coyote Ugly. But since the obvious is not really worth talking about I think I will tell the truth. Last night’s performance (a 3-0 loss) was worse than that. It was much worse – it was Penguin Ugly.

From the start the Penguins looked lost on the ice as if since last Saturday when they played and beat the Islanders that they had forgotten how to even play hockey. Excessive and needless penalties as well as Malkin and Crosby being silenced leave no good impressions from last night’s game. Even the third line of Staal, Cooke and Kennedy, normally reliable for energy and a boost looked flat most of the game. Brent Johnson starting in goal could not hold down the fort even though his effort was certainly admirable.

The Penguins just plain got beat by an inferior team and did not much seem to care. Well, they better get an attitude adjustment quick because there is no rest as they turn around and head into Philly tonight against a beefy, brawl ready Flyers team that will draw blood all night long if allowed to.

How good John Tavares, the Islander’s 2009 first round pick, will be and how much he will help a team that has struggled in recent years despite trying to build a formidable team will not be known for some time. But there is no denying that the kid has talent and his hungry to prove himself as an NHL talent. With a goal and an assist in his debut, he will have to be watched.

But even with that performance it was Sidney Crosby and the Penguins that won on Saturday night, a day after the Penguins opened their season with a win against the Rangers and on a night that was the Islanders season opener. His Sidness opened the scoring at 8:50 of the first taking a bank pass off the board from Fedotenko and the other side of the ice to get behind the defense. Crosby cut into the offensive zone, behind the defense and opened up Islander goal tender Roloson for the 1-0 lead. The first period was a sloppy period for the Penguins however as they started taking too many uncharacteristic and down right bad penalties. After Brenden Witt put a clean open ice hit on Ruslan Fedotenko McKee and Malkin both got sent to the box and McKee’s penalty for instigating, a penalty the NHL has said they would enforce this year, was extremely painful as it gave the Islanders a 5-3 on which they scored to tie the game at 1-1.

In the second Tavares (1) scored to make the game 2-1. But in the third at 7:19 of the frame Mark Eaton (1) scored to not the score at 2. Less than half a minute later however, the Islanders Trent Hunter (1) put the home team back on top. It wasn’t until less than four minutes remained at 16:11 that Fedotenko (1) scored and the Penguins played hard down the stretch to force overtime.

After a scoreless 5:00 of OT the shootout sealed the deal for the Penguins with both of the first two lslander shooters missing high glove side on Fleury (something I have regularly pointed out in the past seemed to be his weakness) and both Letang and Crosby beating Roloson on the first two shots the Pens would take.

Fleury was spectacular again stopping 25 of 28 shots and making big saves by kicking out the pads and flashing leather when needed to stop what appeared to be primo scoring chances by the Isles. With a 2-0 mark to open the season the Penguins are off until Wednesday when they return home to host the Pheonix Coyotes.