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).

The Philadelphia Flyers are living up to expectations of many, myself included, that paid attention to how they built their team for this season. A floundering team that has lost a coach, the Flyers are in disarray without leadership and lacking too much in the talent department and are obviously living in denial. This isn’t the 1970’s and the whole Broad Street Bullies act doesn’t cut it today’s NHL.

Last night at the Igloo, the Flyers played a brand of amateurish hockey the likes of which has not been seen since the movie Slap Shot. After falling behind 1-0 on a Sidney Crosby (dare I say it?) power play goal, his 21st goal of the season, at just 3:30 of the first it was time for the goons to come out of their shells. First Arron Asham got a beat down from Mike Rupp. While both were still warming their seats in the sin bin, six seconds late off the ensuing face off Riley Cote tangled with Eric Goddard and could not do anything decisive in the scrap. Then, ten seconds after that Carcillo and Adams went for a dance. At the end of it all, and with the Flyers having successfully taken the Penguins entire fourth line to the penalty box, all the Flyers had to show for this childish display was nothing.

The penalty boxes overflowing, Bill Guerin (8) scored to put the Penguins up 2-0. The shot from Sidney Crosby squirted through Boucher’s pads and was laying behind him in the crease and Guerin just scooped it up and placed it into the cage with the blade of his stick.

The only sign of life that the Flyers exhibited was a goal midway through the first by Carcillo on the power play. The nail in the coffin however was delivered by Jordan Staal (9) who scored short handed three minutes later.

Staal added his second goal of the night (10th of the season) with 15 seconds left in the second beating Boucher with a wrist shot.

Ruslan Fedotenko (6) got out a shovel and finished burying Philadelphia with a third period goal at 12:17 and Evgeni Maklin (10) laid the wreath at 18:39 with a short handed goal.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win despite appearing shaky at several key moments during last night’s game and not having played in nearly a week. He ended the night stopping 26 of 27 shots and made some big saves as the Penguins improved to 23-10-1 (47 pts) and back into first place in the Atlantic ahead of New Jersey although the Devils have three games in hand.

Philadelphia fell to 15-16-1 and will host the Penguins Thursday night before the Penguins head off to Buffalo and then return home to host New Jersey.

Notes:

Scott Hartnell didn’t bit anyone during last night’s game.

The Penguins are 4-1-1 so far in December.

Despite their attempts to be tough guys, the Flyers at best netted only a draw in three fights last night while clearly loosing two of them. Oh and they got their rears kicked when they actually tried to play hockey too.

Judging by the way they are playing, the Flyers are trying to see if they can get a second coach fired before 2009 comes to a close.

Hopefully last night’s overtime victory against the Florida Panthers, in which the power play FINALLY scored a goal, means that the Penguins are back on the winning track. After an overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in which the Penguins clearly outplayed them and a loss in regulation to the Carolina Hurricanes, who have not been the same team this season since getting swept by the Penguins in the East finals last year, the Penguins needed another win to back up their 3-2 win in Montreal previously just to keep things rolling.

With Brent Johnson in goal, the backup netminder played more than well enough to win at times flashing leather like Marc-Andre Fleury to rob the Panthers of goals. After Steven Reinprecht (11) scored on the power play half way through the first, it was Pascal Dupuis (9) that answered with a wrist shot to tie up the game. The goal keeps Dupuis on pace to break the 20 goal mark for the first time since he played for the Minnesota Wild in 2002-2003. And that year he made the mark by playing on the power play and netting 6 goals with the man advantage. This year he is doing it in more of a utility role playing anywhere and everywhere the Penguins need him with a lot of 4th line time.

Ruslan Fedotenko (5) tipped in a cross crease pass from Malkin and Rupp mid way through the second to put the Penguins up. Then it was Steven Weiss (4) who wristed in a goal for the Panthers early in third and into an empty net as Johnson scrambled out for a missed poke check after a stop on a break away and tied the game.

The Penguins power play nearly cost them another game going 0-5 in regulation. But thankfully on their sixth chance it didn’t take long for Evgeni Malkin to find the net. With Jordan Leopold sent to the box just 0:30 into overtime for a hold on Jordan Staal as he crashed towards the net and Thomas Vokoun, the Penguins controlled the draw. Sidney Crosby pushed the puck back to Sergei Gonchar who fed Evgeni Malkin up high and Malkin (9) ripped the puck into the net on the 4-3 to win.

Brent Johnson finished with 29 saves on 31 shots faced, 15 of which came in the third period. He has a .907 save percentage and a 2.86 GAA, both very respectable for a backup goal tender who does not get regular chances in net.

The win helps the Penguins keep pace in the East with 45 points (22-10-1) which is good enough for 4th place and keeps them just a few games in hand behind New Jersey also with 45 points in the Atlantic. The Penguins now prepare for a home and home series against division rivals the Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-1, 29 pts).

Notes:
Winger Chris Kunitz returned to the lineup last night after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury marking the return to health of a Penguins team that spent most of November wondering who would get injured next.

The Colorado Avalanche are still hanging on to their status as a surprise team in the West based on their tremendous start. However their performance as of late has been anything but spectacular as they came into the Igloo last night for a match against the Penguins who have defied ordinary (Ugh I hate that slogan) and injury to remain one of the league’s elite teams this season.

Despite an early lead thanks to a power play opportunity, in the end Colorado was no match for the Penguins despite a good game plan of close checking that they maintained through the first 40 minutes of play. After that however the Pens took control.

After the Avalanche took the lead in the first the Penguins answered back in the closing second of the period, once again playing to the whistle, and scored to tied the game with just 0:07 left. The goal by Sidney Cosby was his 18th of the season and was assisted by none other than Michael Rupp, one of the hottest players on the Penguins right now. The goal resulted from a 2-1 break after a turn over at the Penguins blue line. Closing in on goal Crosby passed the puck to Rupp who dished the puck right back to Sid as Budaj followed the puck and moved to block Rupp from shooting.

The Pens out shot the Avalanche 14-6 in the period.

The second was a tight checking affair with Colorado outshooting the Pens 9-5 but the third was all Pens as they notched three goals on 14 shots compared to no goals on just one shot for the Avalanche.

Guerin (7) scored on the power play, a rare feat for this team, to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead and just as a 5-3 had expired. But the game was not decided until a pair of empty net goals late from Jordan Staal (7) and Sidney Crosby (19) sealed the deal. On the Crosby goal, Malkin passed to Staal who could have easily taken the shot, but he passed the puck over to Sid who put the puck in the cage.

In all Fleury stopped 15 of 16 shots and played well considering how he sometimes has poor performances when facing relatively few shots.

The Penguins with the win are now 20-9-0 and keeping pace with the Washington Capitals in the East for first place. Both teams have 40 points but the Caps have one fewer game although three fewer wins. Coming up this weekend the Pens will host the Chicago Blackhawks – now with extra Hossa!

Notes:

No Penguin was a negative last night in the plus minus column.

The Penguins are as of last night one of only two teams in the NHL to have not lost a game in overtime/shootout. The only other team with such a distinction is the Vancouver Canucks.

Pittsburgh’s 20 wins is tops in the league.

Pittsburgh’s power play is still terrible clicking at just 14.4% or third worst in the league.

Despite Sidney Crosby getting better in the face off dot this season, the Penguins are still not better than 50-50 as a team (49.5% to be exact or 17th out of 30 teams) meaning that Malkin, Staal and others are not carrying their own weight in this regard.

Jordan Staal has shown signs of inconsistent promise on the ice this year. He had a hat trick against the Red Wings and then a short spurt of productivity but really has not been a regular on the scoring sheet. Now he has a new 4 year contract for millions and maybe that was all that was holding Jordan back. Since that contract was announced Jordan Staal has goals in three consecutive games including a short handed marker, something he did with frequency his rookie year but not so much of since.

Let’s hope that Jordan can keep up the production and make me truly believe he is worthy of the $16 million contract he has been rewarded with. Because really the way that he has played I believe only warranted about a $12 million commitment ($3 million per year) at most. I would love to be proven wrong though.