Following a tough loss last week to Philadelphia followed by a complete collapse in the third period the next night against the New York Rangers, some Penguins fans were worried that not only was the streak over but that things were going to get bad fast. After rattling off wins like a hoarder collects junk, two losses in a row looked like a bad sign especially when that second one was the result of four goals not just in the last period but in the last ten minutes!

Pish posh! Some time to clear their heads and the Penguins have bounced right back rattling off back to back wins. First it was the Phoenix Coyotes who were … well … let’s just say the Penguins had their way with them darting out to a 5-0 lead by the end of the second period. The ‘Yotes didn’t even show up on the scoresheet until the last period when they finally found the next but that game was 6-1 when it ended.

After weathering a 16 shot storm in the first, Marc-Andre Fleury backstopped the Penguins effort and got goals from Kris Letang (6), Evgeni Malkin (12, 13), Sidney Crosby (27), Matt Cooke (6) and Chris Conner (3). That is a pretty good bit of spreading the puck around and Geno had three assists to goal with his two goals. Heck, with production like he has been having I say give him a week break to start every month!

Ok, sure Phoenix is in last place in the Pacific Division but they are a respectably above .500 team at 15-10-7.

Then there was last night against Florida. Florida is, unlike Phoenix, a lower tier team at 15-17-0 and the Penguins made sure to play like they are capable of rather than down to Florida’s level. Despite Florida scoring on their first shot to tie the game at 1-1, it never was close after that. The game ended 5-2 with the Penguins coasting thanks to goals by Letestu (7), Crosby (28), Cooke (7), Lovejoy (1) and the empty netter by Dupuis (8).

The game was so out of hand by the start of the third period that the Penguins decided to give Fleury, who had the night off up until that point, a period in net to get warmed up for today’s match against the Capitals. And that game is a real test. Washington is 20-12-4 and once again leading the pathetically weak Southeast Division. And nothing sets up the Winter Classic better than today’s game and the outcome of it.

Can the Penguins keep their new winning streak rolling? Sure they can. But they have to go through Ovechkin to do it which is never a small task.

Once again, the only reason game 5 of the series between the Pens and the Habs was close was a man named Halak.  But while Halak stood tall in net for the Canadiens he was again outshone by Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury.   Montreal out shot the Penguins 33-25 but Fleury made 32 saves while Halak made only 23.  It was a dangerous game for Pittsburgh who could have by all rights once again blown out the Habs but couldn’t get pucks in nets as often as they should have.

And as usual Pittsburgh had to not only beat Halak but also the refs who seem to prefer a return to the clutch and grab era of hockey in order to give Montreal a chance while allowing every Hab on the ice to whack at Matt Cooke with impunity.  That’s ok because so far so good.

Pittsburgh got goals from their blue liners as both Kris Letang (4) and Sergei Gonchar (2) scored while Montreal’s lone goal came in the closing seconds on a power play with Halak on the bench.  Oh yeah, and the puck clearly frozen under Marc-Andre Fleury.  But refs allowed the play to continue and the puck got poked into the net.

The series now returns to Montreal Monday night with the Penguins up three games to two and a chance to close out the series.  The problem is that the Penguins have had a nasty habit of not being able to end series on their first attempt.  So the question is out there at to whether or not the clock will strike midnight on Cinderella or whether or not she has a few more dances left in her.

Notes:

Dan Bylsma finally, and I say that enthusiastically, scratched Ponikarovsky who has not been worth the investment the Penguins made in him for the post season.  How bad has Ponikarovsky been?  In 10 games he had just 1 goal, three assists and was a -1 before hugging the pine last night.  Both Matt Cooke and Max Talbot have more points.

Things looked bleak for a second straight game as the Penguins had another chance to close out their first round series against Ottawa after staking out a three games to one lead. After leading in game five on Thursday the Senators tied up the game and won in three over times to force a game six behind Leclair who replaced Elliott as their starting goal tender. Leclair and a plethora of blocked shots were the only reasons the Penguins did not win that game.

Game six looked bad as well for the Penguins as Leclair found ways to keep the Penguins out of the net. Even when he didn’t and with the help of on ice and league officials. With the Senators up 1-0 at 7:20 of the first period Mike Rupp pushed a puck to the net which was called no goal by on ice officials even with Leclair clearly in the net. Replays showed clearly that the puck was also in the net and well behind the goal line. However even league officials in Toronto refused to call it a good goal which just goes to show you that even instant replay cannot correct people unwilling to see the truth. Later in the game the officials would also call off a good goal scored after Malkin was tripped up into the goal tender claiming he interfered with Leclair’s ability to play the puck. Remarkably however there was no penalty on Malkin showing that the refs really knew that they blew the call.

The bad call on the Rupp goal swung momentum away from a surging Penguins team and by midway through the second Ottawa had expanded their lead to 3-0.

But the Penguins began to answer and Marc-Andre Fluery began to lock down the Senators and hold the fort in a manner reminiscent of last year’s series against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh was also down 3-0 in a deciding game in that series too before storming back to win.  Matt Cooke scored at 10:56 of the second to cut the lead to 3-1. Then at 7:03 of the third Billy Guerin fired a shot into the net from the circle as Leclair was playing without his goalie stick. Matt Cooke scored his second of the game at 12:24 of the third to tie it all up and Ottawa looked like they were just getting beat all over by a better team.

As time wound down and this game also headed to overtime there was no doubt that both teams hope for less than the previous three over time affair. And with up and down action it did not. There were saves at both ends made but it was Pascal Dupuis that beat Leclair for the winning goal less than half way through the extra period after being set up by Jordan Staal who brought the puck out from behind the Ottawa net.

The victory means a chance at either Buffalo or Boston in the second round and a couple of days to rest and heal after a hard fought series.

Notes:

The Penguins top line was pretty much neutralized in game six.  Crosby, Guerin and Kunitz were a combined -8 and Guerin’s PP goal was their only point.

The Senators tried to play it safe with a 3-1 lead in the third and learned that you don’t win games against Pittsburgh that way.  The Penguins out shot Ottawa 18-4 in the third and out scored the Senators 2-0.

The Mighty Ducks are not exactly a force in the Western Conference but when you consider that the Penguins were down major parts of their team, last night’s 3-1 win against Anaheim was certainly a bright spot. The Penguins took to the ice without Sidney Crosby, Rob Scuderi, forward Max Talbot, Kris Letang and Pascal Dupuis. They are also still missing Fedotenko and Zigomanis as well as Gonchar and also lost Orpik during the game due to an injury.

Things looked bad early on as the makeshift Penguins struggled to find their groove against the Ducks managing a pathetic 5 total shots in the period against Jean-Sebastien Giguere. But the fifth one was all they needed to take a 1-0 lead with only 21 seconds remaining in the period. It was Matt Cooke (6) who wound out from behind the Ducks goal and fed a puck to the far post that banked in with time running out that put the Penguins up heading into the locker room.

Early in the second it was Cooke (7) again who scored just 0:23 seconds in. He found a rebound from Giguere’s pads and with the Ducks netminder badly out of position he slammed it home for a 2-0 lead. The Ducks would cut the lead in half on a second period goal by Getzlaf (17) but the Pens were defensively sound and allowed only 7 shots in the period while amassing 10 themselves; a number that is impressive considering their recent weak totals.

In the third period Pittsburgh got into penalty trouble but was able to hold off a hard charging Ducks team determined to win. At 15:05 of the final period Hal Gill (1) scored his first goal of the season to make the game 3-1. Gill shot the puck from the circle and it found the back of the net.

Fleury played well, facing only 22 shots in the game to earn the victory.

The win moved the Penguins back into a playoff spot (8th to be exact) and they have won two of their last three and could have easily won the Washington game with a little commitment to defense. I am still not ready to say that the team has come out of its recent long and painful funk but things are certainly looking up. The question will be can they play hard enough to win games while the injury bug continues to decimate their team.