Brooks Orpik returned to the lineup after missing a few games as the Penguins took on the surprisingly good Atlanta Thrashers last night. With the Penguins starting to get healthy again, but coming off a terrible loss to the Senators, fans were hoping for a better outcome. And they got it thanks to Martin Skoula, the Penguins seventh defenseman at the beginning of the season.

Skoula added the first two goals of the game for the Penguins, his second and third of the year in 14 games, and both coming at almost the exact same time in the first and second frames. In the first he scored at 7:38 and in the second he scored at 7:34 to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Perhaps the Penguins have found the magic that will enable him to score looking at this? Ok, new game plan! At 7:30 of each period pass to Skoula and let him shoot!

Hey, stranger things have happened.

The Penguins climbed to a 3-0 lead later in the second as Malkin (6) beat Hedberg who kept Atlanta in the game all night as a seemingly thoroughly pissed off Penguins team looked to rebound and take revenge against someone for their uninspired loss in Ottawa.

In the third Atlanta tried to come back scoring a short handed goal (how about that power play huh?) and with just 18 seconds remaining to cut the score to the final of 3-2. Fluery made 31 saves on 33 shots and Hedberg made 31 on 34. Fleury was on his game again last night flashing leather and stopping pucks that two years ago would have been by him.

The win put the Penguins back on top in the Atlantic over New Jersey. Pittsburgh improved their record to 15-8-0 (30 pts) and a one point lead over the Devils who have two games in hand. The Penguins head to Florida Monday night to take on the Florida Panthers before returning home one Thanksgiving Eve to host the Montreal Canadians.

Thomas Vokoun backstopped the Florida Panthers for two perfect periods and Steven Reinprecht scored two goals for his team as the Penguins found themselves down 2-0 heading into the third. Brent Johnson let in one so-so goal and one soft goal in the first but played strong for most of the night finding ways to keep Florida from making the deficit worse.

It was in the second period that Pittsburgh started to turn things around. But Vokoun was up to the task stopping all 14 shots by the Pens in that frame.

Then came the third period and who stepped up? None other than Sidney Crosby. Just 2:14 in and on a power play Sid found the back of the net as Vokoun was not able to move as fast as the cross ice pass. Then a little later Sid thought he had his second goal, but a review showed that the play was a hand pass to Bill Guerin and it was waved off.

That’s ok, because Sid was not to be denied. With the Penguins down a man it was both Malkin and Crosby on the ice together to kill the penalty. Malkin raced down the rink with the puck, looped behind the goal and fed Sid in front who buried it to tie the game.

After a scoreless overtime it was Sid that scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Penguins the comeback win. The victory pushes the Penguins record to 9-1-0 (18 pts) and keeps them atop the East and the Atlantic wit the season still young. Tonight they hit the ice again to host the New Jersey Devils (5-3-0).

Martin Skoula played well (+1) in his first live game action of the season filling in for the injured Sergei Gonchar.

Tuesday all doubt about who would be the Penguins seventh defensemen in the long term were laid to rest. On Tuesday the Penguins signed veteran blue liner Martin Skoula who, at 29, has the skills and the talent to partially fill the void left by the departures of Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi. With 185 points (41 G, 144 A) over his career he can contribute a little offensively when need be. Overall he is a good last minute addition to the club I believe although whether or not he will have the chemistry with the rest of the team and the ability to accept and play the Penguins system will remain to be seen.

The Penguins Defense is already stacked. This morning, without Skoula, the team site officially lists eight defensemen on the roster. The locks to be wearing black and Vegas Gold on opening day are Mark Eaton, Alex Goligoski, Sergei Gonchar, Kris Letang, Jay McKee and Brooks Orpik as the starting six. Nathan Guenin (a Sewickley native) and Ben Lovejoy appear to have had their hopes dashed of remaining with the team due to this signing unless the Penguins decide to carry an extra defenseman on the roster, something I think is highly unlikely. As of this moment Lovejoy remains on the roster while Guenin cleared waivers and is now in Wilkes-Barre.

One thing is for certain thought, just as with last year the Penguins will have a plethora of defensemen ready to step up when the inevitable injury bug bites.