Crosby-Less Penguins Win Bird-Battle; Defeat Ducks, 3-1

The list of regulars in the press box for the Penguins last night before their game against the Anaheim Ducks at Mellon Arena was long.

Sergei Gonchar.

Ruslan Fedotenko.

Max Talbot.

Mike Zigomanis and Pascal Dupuis.

Rob Scuderi and Kris Letang

Oh yeah. There also was some guy named Crosby there.

And during the game, they lost another troop from their ranks, when defenseman Brooks Orpik did not return after suffering an undisclosed upper body injury.

At 177 man-games lost to injury already this season, the Penguins had every reason to come up lame against the Ducks and continue their 2 month slide out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

How then to account for their disciplined, 3-1 win over the Ducks?

Just thank the home COOKE-in.

As in the 2 goals scored by Penguins' LW Matt Cooke, one in the last minute of the 1st period and another in the first minute of the 2nd period. Behind that effort, some solid defensive play, and 21 saves by netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins were able to prevail for the 2nd time in 3 games and put themselves in a position to build some more momentum by winning consecutive games on Sunday for the first time in 2 months against the hated New York Rangers in NBC's first nationally televised Sunday broadcast this season.

The Penguins were pretty sharp last night. They weren't overwhelming offensively, but they stuck to their 1-2-2 system better than they did Wednesday night against the Capitals. With Cooke's goals -- and 1 in the 3rd period from Defenseman Hal Gill off a direct faceoff win by center Jordan Staal -- the Penguins had all they needed.

Evgeni Malkin assisted on both Cooke's goals. Cooke did a great job on the top line (last night with Malkin and RW Petr Sykora) for the second straight game.

Orpik, by the way, is not expected to miss significant time.

In a strange way, the many injuries the Penguins have had may benefit them. To get out of their slump, they need to concentrate on the short term. They need to take baby steps. Having so many players out of the lineup could actually serve to sharpen their focus, because they know they'll need to play well defensively to win. That's a message they haven't gotten much the last 8 weeks.

If the Penguins can get it going, they still have a fair shot to make the playoff field, and at this point, that's all they can ask for. Do you think they'll make it? Vote in my poll on the right.

More tomorrow or Monday.