It is going to be a long road to hoe starting tonight as the Pittsburgh Penguins begin their defense of the Stanley Cup against the New York Rangers. But after the banners are raised and the recognition ends it is back to work.

To win the Cup again will take a lot of effort. This is a Penguins team with a lot of players who have played a lot of hockey over the past two seasons. They have the experience and they have got the talent. But they also have a big bullseye on their backs as everyone will be looking to prove that they are better than the Stanley Cup Champions. Teams like the Flyers, the Capitals and the Hurricanes will all be looking to avenge play off losses each time they square off against the Penguins. I leave the Red Wings out of that category because the two will meet just once in a non-conference match up that will neither make or break either team’s season.

The names have been inscribed on the cup and what is done is done. Tonight it is back to business and that business is to dance once again with Lord Stanley.

Good luck Pens! Let’s make the last season in the old Igloo a memorable one!

After being beaten up and down the ice in Game 5 and falling behind 2-0 despite having played well in the first period of Game 6, the Penguins buckled down and defeated their cross state rivals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Things would get worse before they got better though.

Knuble (2) and Lupul (1) both beat Fleury in the first period and Briere (1) added a power play goal early in the second to extend the Flyers lead to 3-0. But Fedotenko (1) and the Penguins answered right back scoring 0:29 later to make it 3-1. Eaton (2) added another goal two minutes later to make it 3-2. Eaton swatted the puck out of mid air in front of Biron with the shaft of his stick and then into the net and already has two goals in the playoffs for a defenseman now known for his scoring prowess. But as the saying goes, good things happen when you stand in front of the net.

Crosby (3) then evened the score late in the second, also batting a puck out of the air and behind Biron who began to look like the goal tender the Penguins spanked in Game 1. The Penguins mustered an amazing 20 shots on net in the period.

In the third it was Sergei Gonchar (1) at 2:19 that put the Penguins up for good with a long shot that found the upper corner of the net and Crosby (4) added an empty netter after several furious attempts by the Flyers to tie the game and great saves by Fleury and good defense by the Penguins.

The win earned the Penguins the right to advance to the next round against an opponent to be determined as the league awaits the results of the remaining first round games.

Let the whining begin. Philadelphia fans (and even coaches) are upset over Crosby’s goal that broke the 0-0 tie in the second period and are just generally frustrated over how they could not have won a game that they completely dominated offensively. Replays showed that Crosby’s goal was indeed a good goal, hitting off his stick and then his body and he was being hauled downed and then crashing into the net behind Biron. The highlight real also showed exactly why the Flyers lost and his name is Marc-Andre Fleury.

Pittsburgh also got another goal from Tyler Kennedy (2) and the empty net icing goal from Max Talbot (1) en route to taking a 3-1 series lead thanks to the Flower who was in full bloom last night staying square to the shooter and making big saves when he had to. His 45 saves on 46 shots have the Flyers befuddled and wondering how on earth they are going to win three games to take the series with the matchup returning to Pittsburgh for a 7:00 PM showdown Thursday night.

The Penguins however cannot ride Fleury like they have ridden him so far. After a complete team effort in Game 1 of the series the Penguins have put forth three either average or subpar efforts since and still managed to climb to a dominating lead in the series. Too many penalties have plagued the Pens as they have tried to match the Flyers physical play which has gotten overly aggressive at times. Penalty killing has kept them in the games as well while the power play continues to struggle.

Then Penguins want to close out the series Thursday night. They don’t want to give the Flyers and hope in their minds that they could win this series which returning to Philadelphia only down 3-2 certainly would do.

Petr Sykora, as good as he can be, is just not getting the job done. He is not finishing and not getting time on the power play which is where many of his goals come from.

Is he hurt? He and the team are mum. But he is playing like a man protecting himself. He is playing hard at times but something is off and not right.

Miroslav Satan, who was the odd man out back at the trade deadline, sits as a healthy scratch. It is time to give him a shot to play. Maybe not on Malkin’s line, but somewhere and give Sykora a chance to either rest his unannounced injury or think about what he needs to do to be worthy of playing on a team so stacked with talent that no player’s role should be safe if they slack.

Satan didn’t deserve to be sent to the minors. He was playing well. But he had to go to clear cap room. It is time to reward him for taking it like a pro and get his shot back in the lineup.

The Los Angeles Kings perhaps thought that they might be giant killers for the second night in a row. Before last night’s showdown with the Penguins the Kings had knocked off Eastern Conference leading Boston. But then again, who hasn’t lately?

It was clear from early on when the Penguins handed the Kings several early power play opportunities on which they failed to scored that Los Angeles was just simply over matched. Crosby (28) opened the scoring at 12:33 of the first by taking the puck off the wall and walking in on Kings netminder Jonathan Quick who he beat high to the glove side. Later in the same period Evgeni Malkin (33) scored on the power play to make the game 2-0 at the end of 20 minutes. Tyler Kennedy (13) and Bill Guerin (19) both added goals in the second to make it 4-0 before the Kings Handzus (17) finally found the net on the power play in the third to make it 4-1.

There was not much of a surprise that the Penguins took care of business at home versus Los Angeles considering the Kings are one of the worst teams in the league while Pittsburgh has been one of the hottest lately. Fleury made 24 saves on the night.

The win keeps the Penguins in 5th place in the East and just behind Philadelphia who also won on Friday but also have three full games in hand setting up a Sunday showdown between the two teams at the Igloo. Honestly, if the Penguins want any chance of leapfrogging the Flyers they will have to dip down deep and win another game.

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.