Enough is enough!  1-3-0 is unacceptable for a team like the Penguins that are stocked with the talent they have from forward to blue line and in into the goal.

Ok so there are injuries on the Blue Line and the Penguins sent their best option back to Juniors.  No excuse.  This team is still better from their A-line on back than 95% of the teams in the NHL.

Tonight the New York Islanders are in town.  That’s right, the New York Freaking Islanders … a team that has been one of the laughing stocks of the East in recent years.  It is time for the Pens to get serious, bear down and win on home ice for the first time this season.

It’s time for players to not just man up but to HERO UP!  I don’t care who takes up the challenge to rise to the occasion and do something beyond being mediocre during the sixty minutes they are on the ice tonight.  Someone, preferable someones, will decided that they have had enough of the losing and dig down deep to make a win possible.  Sid and Geno need to find their game.  The defense needs to put aside the bruises and defend the blue line.  Everyone needs to pick up their game.

What do you say Pens?  Ready to take up the challenge?  Ready to HERO UP and be the team that you are supposed to be?  Ready to kick some ass?

Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins brought to an end an important chapter for hockey in the city as the team played the final regular season game ever at the Igloo. The question now is how many playoff games will be seen before the final post season game is played there.

Facing off against the lowly New York Islanders, the stars looked align for a good night which started with commemorative tickers to all fans in attendance, then a ceremony celebrating all the great players who have skated on the arena’s ice and which fans hopes would end with a victory. Especially considering that there is still a chance for the Penguins to rise in the standings before the end of the season depending on what they and the Devils do.

Just 23 seconds in, Brooks Orpik (2) helped the Penguins stake out a 1-0 lead. At 5:01 Alex Goligoski (8) made it 2-0 on the power play. But the Penguins gave the Islanders a chance with a power play and the lead was cut to 2-1 just three and a half minutes later.

Evgeni Malkin (26) stretched the score to 3-1 with just under five minutes remaining but not even two minutes later the Islanders against scored to make it a 3-2 game. With just 58 seconds left in the first period however Sidney Crosby (49) notched another goal to make it a 4-2 contest.

Fleury, honestly looked shaky in net. When the second period resumed and with just about seven minutes gone the Islanders scored again to once again make it a one goal game and move the score to 4-3.

It took a while but the Penguins put the hammer down. Bill Guerin (20) added his twentieth of the season on the power play and two minutes later Mr. (Tyler) Kennedy (13) added another marker. When the smoke cleared at the end of the second, the score stood at Penguins 6 and the Islanders 3.

Bill Guerin (21) added goal number seven at 1:46 of the third and the Penguins cruised to a victory to put them back into a points wise tie with New Jersey in the Eastern Conference. However New Jersey holds all tie breakers.

Some people have been wondering when the Penguins, who frankly have looked like they were willing to sleep walk through the final month of the season were going to flip the switch and get serious after failing to put up much of a fight against teams like New Jersey and Washington. Well, honestly, it probably still hasn’t happened even though last night was a positive sign. And spare me please the stats about how the Penguins have won more than they have lost over the past thirty some odd days. Their record is not that good.

Since March 1st, by my count, this team is 10-5-4. Which is basically .500 in the win loss department when you properly count the over time and shoot out losses as what they are – losses. This team is 10-9. Not only are they 10-9 but the have lost to both New Jersey and Washington twice in that span. You know, important teams that they will have to face more likely than not come the playoffs?

But there were some good sings that this team actually has their fingers on that switch and are indeed ready to flip it and get serious. After a first period where the Penguins defense and goal tending (yes, Fleury is not playing well and highly at fault so stop making excuses for him about how the defense is letting him down) Fleury played like Fleury on a flurry of shots by the Islanders in the second where he had to stop three point blank shots. The last one he was badly out of position but still defending his net like the man that helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup.

The Penguins put their boots on the Islanders necks after this and never let them get up. Again, another problem the Penguins have had is letting teams stick around and not putting them away.

Two games remain. And neither are cake walks despite them being against Atlanta and the New York Islanders again. The Penguins need to build momentum and win both. Not just to convince fans that they are ready for another run at Lord Stanley’s cup but also to convince their opponents that the Penguins are a threat to win against anyone, anywhere and any time. And besides, there is still the chance to finish even higher in the standing at stake as well.

Last night’s game against the New York Islanders was something the Penguins needed. At least going in and on paper and through the first half of the game anyway. The Islanders were 8th in the Eastern Conference heading into the game but only because they have been surging as of late with a 7-2-1 record in their last ten games. The Islanders are still not a major threat to the top teams in the East. Yeah, they may finish with a respectable or even good record at the end of the season. They might even finish above some of what are considered the elite teams in the Atlantic. But it will be through a sheer force of will and over achievement.

Coming off an up and down road trip where they lost two but won three, the Penguins were no doubt looking forward to coming home to the Igloo for a game against the Islanders before taking on the much more elite Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

And everything started off well enough. For a period and a half the Penguins dominated staking out a 3-0 lead and even scored twice on the power play which featured some wrinkles that were not there two weeks ago. Sidney Crosby (31) opened the scoring late in the first period picking up a rebound and burying it into a yawning cage. Early in the second Evgeni Malkin (15) lit the lamp on a 5 on 3 power play to bring the crowd to its feet. Bill Guerin (16) scored on another power play three and a half minutes later and no doubt stunned the Islanders who were wondering what was going on considering the Penguins never seem able to accomplish such feats and my running joke is that the Penguins should decline all penalties because they have been that bad with the man advantage.

Andy Sutton (4), who was later ejected from the game for launching Pasqual Dupuis into the boards from behind and injuring him, scored midway through the second to cut the score to 3-1. Less than a minute and a half later though Sidney Crosby (32) scored again to reestablish a three goal lead.

Then the wheels started coming off. Brent Johnson, who had played spectacularly in relief of the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, couldn’t stop a puck to save his life. Half a minute after Sid scored, Freddy Meyer (1) answered for the Islanders.

The bleeding continued in the third period. 0:48 in Trent Hunter (9) scored to make the score 4-3. Then at 7:11 of the third Richard Park (4) knotted the whole game up at 4-4.

It took a power play goal by Malkin (16) at 11:09 to put the Penguins up 5-4 and the completion of the hat trick by Malkin (17) at 19:30 to seal the deal. The Islanders presenting the Penguins with an net empty and on the Penguins on the power play again thanks to a major penalty on Sutton’s boarding penalty and Malkin walked in and buried it for the 6-4 win.

Brent Johnson finished with 31 saves on 35 shots and recovered towards the end to salvage what could have been an ugly loss had he not. The win moves the Penguins more securely into 4th place in the East at 31-19-1 with 63 points.

Malkin’s hat trick will no doubt spark talk about the Penguins super star finally getting out of his long funk but one game does not a slump end. Time will tell and the Penguins have a much bigger test on their hands tomorrow night than the Islanders.