It didn’t look so good a few days ago. The Penguins won their first game after the Olympic break against Buffalo behind Brent Johnson. Then against New York Marc-Andre Fleury looked like he shouldn’t even be playing for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Penguins, got pulled and Johnson and the team rallied to win. Yesterday against Dallas it again did not look too good as Fleury and the defense let the team down early to let the Stars post a 3-1 lead that again required a comeback. Convincing as it was, with the Penguins winning 6-3, it was still worrisome.

Today against Boston Fleury looked like the #1 netminder he is. With the Penguins leading the Atlantic Division but New Jersey sitting in second with games in hand every point is precious and despite letting up the first goal and falling behind to Boston in the second period the team responded.

After Blake Wheeler (14) score to put the Penguins down, Pascal Dupuis answered back as the Penguins crashed the net and put a puck behind Thomas to tie it up at 1-1. Then Evgeni Malkin (23) scored early in the third to give the Penguins the lead and what would eventually be the win.

The Penguins defense played well, allowing just 11 shots in the first two periods but let up in the third to all that many in one period.  Although Fleury was up to the task to was tense to watch.  Jordan Leopold maintained his strong play and finish +2 while Ponikarovsky added an assist and a +1 to go along with his goal in his debut against Dallas.

The fourth straight win for the Penguins continues what has been a tradition as of recent years where the team puts the pedal down in March as they gear up for the playoffs. It also gives them a 5 point cushion over the Devils who skate later tonight and then still have two games in hand after that. Sixteen games remain for the Penguins then comes the playoffs but they cannot overlook any games or opponents because every point matters and a mini slump now could send the Penguins tumbling down the standings late in the year.

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.

Hard to believe that the Penguins have been as banged up on the blue line as they have considering that they are sitting atop the Atlantic Division. It is almost like the loss of Gonchar, Letang, Goligoski and McKee, each for several weeks and at the same time, did not matter as players like (Dr.) Ben Lovejoy, and Deryk Engelland have filled in nicely and kept the defense sound.

Well, this morning it was announced that Lovejoy and Engelland are heading back to Wilkes-Barre and that means that unless some combination of Letang, Goligoski and McKee are ready to return to the lineup the Penguins would be short handed on defense heading into tonight’s important divisional match up against the Rangers.

Each of the three injured regulars, according to reports, are cleared to play which means the Penguins should for all intents and purposes be back to full strength this evening.

Now, about that struggling power play …

It could have been Montreal’s last visit ever to the Igloo last night. Baring an always possible playoff meeting between two Eastern Conference foes, Montreal will have to deal with that potentially last visit being a loss. With last night’s 3-1 victory, thanks to lots of on the ball … uh puck … saves by Fleury, the Penguins have pretty much trounced the Canadians this season by a goal total of 9-2. They have now won four straight against the Habs.

The Penguins took advantage of a Montreal squad that had to come from behind the night before and limited them to just 17 shots on net. Had there been more, the score might have turned out differently as Fleury definitely saved the Penguins bacon with several great plays and a little bit of luck. The Penguins accomplished the low shot total on Fleury by pressing the attack in the Montreal zone for most of the night.

The Penguins received goals from Crosby (12), Guerin (6) and Gonchar (3) to stake out a 3-0 lead heading into the third period that they would not relinquish. Crosby scored on a rare shot from high at the left circle that surprised Carey Price. Guerin bashed a loose puck between Price’s pads in the second and Gonchar took a puck right up the middle and opened up Price for the Penguin’s third goal.

The win was the Penguins 17th in 25 games this season and ties a team record. The club also won 17 of its first 25 in 94-95 and 95-96.

After last night the Penguins held on to first place in the East with 24 pts just ahead of Washington who also has 24 pts but fewer wins also in 25 games. Montreal sank to 12-12-1 and are still struggling with injuries.

The Penguins however must face a back to back test this week on Friday and Saturday. On Friday the Pens have to travel to Long Island for a 2:00 PM scrum with the 9-9-7 Islanders and then return home Saturday to host the 13-10-1 Rangers.

After loosing four games in a row as the Penguins injury situation looked bleak, the Penguins have since been getting more healthy and have gone 5-1 in their last six games.

The Ottawa Senators missed open nets and hit posts with regularity last night. And if they weren’t doing that, Marc-Andre Fleury was stoning their shooters. After falling behind 1-0 late in the first, Bill Guerin (2) responded a little more than half a minute later to tie the game up and the Penguins never trailed again against an improved Senators squad.

Guerin crashed towards Leclaire between the pipes for Ottawa and his shot careened off the boards and right back to the front of the net. Leclaire looked to his left as the puck squirted to his right and Guerin, falling down with a Senator draped on his shoulder, powered the puck into the net. Mr. Hockeyburgh 2009, Tyler Kennedy, added two goals (his third and fourth of the season) in the second and Jordan Staal added his third in the third to down the Senators.

Fleury stopped 30 of 31 shots he face and displayed his continuing to improve puck handling skills to backstop the Penguins to a 4-1 win. The Penguins improved to 5-1 and head to Carolina for their first meeting of the season with the Hurricanes and first meeting since the Penguins embarrassed the ‘Canes by sweeping them 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

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.