I have to be honest.  I gave up my tickets for today’s Pens game because I am going to the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field to watch the Steelers and Ravens take to the field.  I could have gone to both but decided that that was just too long of a day with a young child at home.  But that doesn’t mean I do not care about the Pens and their match up against the Rangers.

The Penguins have won two of their last three contests and, frankly, should have beat the Capitals.  But they failed to play 60 minutes of hockey which seems to be a common refrain from me these days.

The Rangers have climbed back to the Atlantic Division and the Penguins, who briefly held the #8 spot in the Conference have fallen back to #9 and desperately need a win today against a division rival.

The keys to a Penguins victory are simple.

First they have to not only limit shots, but limit attempted shots as well.  The Penguins are the walking wounded and the more shots they are forced to block because they are not pressuring the opposition, the more likely more injuries will occur.

Second they have to play with the same desperation they did against the Might Ducks.  They have to go after pucks and they have to hit hard.

Today is a good test of whether or not the Penguins have turned the corner.  A win would begin pointing me to saying yes.  A loss keeps me wondering.

The Pens return to the ice tonight in Philly and so far they have shown no signs of turning things around. I keep hoping that this team will do something to make me believe that they know how to play winning hockey. But all I see is a team full of players that pull up instead of going hard into the boards for pucks, a team full of players that have no trust in those on the ice with them and a team full of players that just do not know how to win.

And if this team does not want me to show up at tomorrow night’s game against Washington with a bag over my head to make my disgust known, they better give me a damn good reason to not be ashamed and to believe.

Last night I watched what I can only call a pathetic performance from a pathetic team. Now, you might think that the team I am referring to is the renarkably bad one from Nashville. Well, you would be wrong!

After storming out to a 3-0 lead, the Penguins fell appart in a display of half-hearted play that made them look like they should be wearing uniforms emblazoned with “Islanders” across them. But it is completely typical of their poor work ethic as of late.

They wound up loosing 5-3 and I am seriously considering wearing a paper bag over my head when I attend the next home game against Washington if they do not show some sign of life between now and then.

I’m tired of stating the obvious reasons for continued losses.

Some people will say that, “A win is a win.” I say that any “win” against the hapless Atlanta Thrashers deserves an asterisk next to it. Especially after the performance of the Penguins over the past couple weeks and that said asterisk should only be removed if the team shows that they have finally learned how to play hockey as a team and do the basic things that are required to at least be competitive in the NHL.

Finding anything to praise the Penguins for by posting a win against the Thrashers (13-23-5) is like saying Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux are still great hockey players because they were able to beat up on the local youth mites hockey club. Something more tangible is required to warrant any praise.

If anything, the game against the Thrashers still raised the same concerns that I have been raising for a while ranging from the inability of the team to put together a solid performance for 60 full minutes to players that are not playing up to their potential (i.e. Satan). Sure the Penguins won 3-1 but they played hard for only about 45 minutes, letting up noticeably in the third period to coast to a victory.

One bright spot is that the Penguins did finally crack their drought on the power play, notching two markers with the man advantage. But then again I have to preface that by reminding everyone that this was the Atlanta Thashers the Penguins were playing after all. Although the power play did not start out well.

A fan in section F had posted a sign reading clearly “0-32,” a stark reminder to the Penguins players that they were not doing very well at all. After an early power play failed to score and a chorus of boos rained down onto the ice, the sign was promptly changed to “0-33” the crowd cheered the bold fan for making sure that the players knew they were being watched.

Marc-Andre Fleury turned in a solid performance and moved well in the crease stopping 27 of 28 shots, Sykora (14, 15) had another two goal game and Crosby (16) scored to show all those who voted him into the All Star Game that he could still find the net.

But before the Penguins deserve any praise at all for finding their stride against a cellar dweller like Atlanta, let’s see how they do against Nashville, Colorado and Philly before returning home to play the Capitals.

The story line out of the Friday’s game at New Jersey was all Marc-Andre Fleury as the struggling Penguins managed a pathetic 18 total shots on net for another poor offensive performance.  Fleury stopped all 37 shots he faced making the team’s lone marker by Fedotenko (9) at 12:51 in the second period hold up.

I guess I’ll risk repeating myself and say that the Penguins better find ways to get pucks on net because 18 shots will not cut it in the NHL night after night.  You cannot ride Fleury as hard as you rode him last night and expect to make the playoffs so it is high time someone on the team finds a way to generate some offense.

Sidney Crosby had no shots on net in the contest which seems to be a pattern of Sid not producing. Expect to hear lots of fans coaxing the team to, “SHOOOOOOOOOT!” a lot when they return home tonight to host the Montreal Candiens who are one spot ahead of them in the East.