The Rangers came into Wednesday’s night contest with a game under their belts and their legs back under them. Although they lost that game the night before, they were taking on a Penguins team who, with the exception of Malkin and Letang had not played in a game in over a week if you can count the All Star game and he Young Stars Game real “games” that is.

Even though Godard blasted Orr into a pulp off the opening draw and bought the crowd to its feet as the two fought, when Zherdev opened the scoring just 2:24 into the game, beating Fleury on the Rangers third shot it looked like it would be another long night for Penguins fans. Few certainly expected the outcome would be a 6-2 Penguins rout powered by five third period goals. But that is exactly what those in attendance witnessed.

At the end of the first period, the Penguins and the Rangers were tied at 1-1 thanks to a goal scored by Sykora (18) just a little more than four minutes after the opening marker. Fleury then held the team in the game during the second period, making several great saves as the defense collapsed around him and the Rangers peppered him with 18 shots. Also, in what seemed like a trend as of late, the Penguins also seemed unable to buy a penalty call through the first forty minutes of play. While the Pens had to kill off penalties called to Dupuis, and Talbot (twice), they could not get a Ranger to the box. But all that changed in the third period.

In that period, Rangers wore out a path to the penalty box and the Penguins found their offensive and defensive strides. They put sixteen pucks on net while only allowing eight and got goals from Staal (15), Letang (2, 3), Sykora (19) and Crosby (18) to simply bury the Rangers for the second time in two home games against them.

The win is certainly something the Penguins need who, since a horrid stretch that most of the players and the fans would like to forget, have gone 4-2-0 in their last six with their losses being an eminently winnable 2-1 loss to Carolina and a game against Washington in which the team just failed to play hard for 60 minutes and lost 6-3.

Its another good step in the right direction, but they need to keep winning to have a shot at the playoff and will need to win against New Jersey on Friday night to keep any momentum they may have.

Impressively the Pittsburgh Penguins played perhaps their finest game of the season against the New York Rangers on Sunday. It was a game the Penguins desperately needed to win to prove that they were worthy of being considered a playoff contender. The Rangers, who lead the Atlantic Division, are a quality team and with Sunday’s victory as well as a victories over Philadelphia and Anaheim in the last week have restored confidence in a team that needed something to hang their hat on.

Pittsburgh is now 4-4 in their last eight but 3-1 in their last four and scratching their way back into the playoff hunt.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned a shutout stopping all 33 shots the Rangers got on net and Crosby returned to the lineup after sitting out one game with an injury. With goals from role-players like Minard (1) and Kennedy (8) and also a marker from Sykora (17) the Penguins earned, truly earned, a victory. The players called up from Wilkes-Barres Scranton filled their rolls well and if they can keep playing with the intensity of Sunday’s game, it will lead to some tough decisions to be made as injured players become healthy over the next couple weeks.

The win moves their record to 23-20-4 (50 points) and leapfrogs them over Florida for the 8th playoff spot in the East. To hold onto that spot they will likely need to win against Carolina (21-20-5, 47 pts) on Tuesday. The game against the Hurricanes will be the last before the All-Star Break.

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.