Gonchar, Fedotenko To Return To Lineup Against Toronto

56 games into the season, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar will return to the lineup tonight on the road in a Hockey Night in Canada near 'must' game for Pittsburgh against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Gonchar is a welcome addition to the Penguin lineup, especially at this time of the year when they are fighting to just get into the Eastern Conference playoff field. In addition to lending a calming influence to his teammates, Gonchar instantly will improve the Penguins both offensively and defensively.

He'll be especially key to the Pittsburgh power play, which has sank to 23rd overall in the league -- a place it shoudn't be with world-class talents like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin patrolling the man-advantage. Gonchar will settle things down and be more of a threat for the Penguins from the backline.

Everything won't come right away for Sarge, of course, but his presence in the lineup can do nothing but boost the Penguins.

The same can be said of LW Ruslan Fedotenko, who will also return tonight from a broken right hand sustanined in a game where he got the obvious better of Atlanta Thrasher and former Penguin Colby Armstrong in a dust-up the last time those 2 teams met about 5+ weeks ago. Fedotenko had been playing quite well leading up to that time, with a near point-a-game pace for the month prior.

With the return of these two players, the Penguins are the healthist they've been since the beginning of the season. Only depth center Mike Zigomanis -- out 4-6 months with a shoulder problem -- and depth defenseman Phillipe Boucher -- now out indefinitely after foot surgery -- are missing from the lineup.

A near-full complement of players couldn't come at a better time for the Penguins. Let's see if they can keep their little roll going against a Toronto team who beat them the last 2 times they matched up. The Boys of Winter owe them some packback.

Recap tomorrow. Let's go Pens'.