Penguins Thunder Into 2009 Playoffs With 6-4 Win Over Lightning

In late December, January and early February, the focus for the Penguins wasn't getting into the 2009 playoffs.

It wasn't on getting a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Finals again.

It was, quite simply, on stopping the bleeding.

Restoring their equilibrium.

From mid-February on, when Penguins' GM Ray Shero fired former bench-boss Michel Therrein and replaced him with current interim head coach Dan Bylsma, the team hasn't looked back.

After last night's 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, the Penguins clinched that playoff spot in the 2009 Stanley Cup field.

They will, indeed, look to defend their Eastern Conference crown.

And, if their body of work over the last near-2 months is any indication, the Penguins can only be considered a favorite to do that.

With the win last night, the Penguins moved to 16-3-4 under Bylsma, and got back on track following the bump they encountered over the weekend in losing back-to-back games to the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers.

The Penguins have clinched a spot no lower than 7th in the East, and can only move higher in the standings.

For the first 45 minutes or so against the Lightning last night, the only question surrouding the Penguins was how high their lead would go.

They staked a 4-0 lead up to that point before things got pretty interesting the rest of the way.

After a scoreless first period, Ruslan Fedotenko got the Penguins on the board by completing a nice passing play with his linemates. Tyler Kennedy did some nice work down low to keep the puck, spin around and find center Jordan Staal along the near boards close to the corner. 2 Lightning players quickly approached Staal and he wasted no time finding Fedotenko screaming down the slot. #26 took it in strike, made a quick move to the backhand, and even more quickly deposited the puck behind Lightning netminder Kari Ramo at the 5 minute mark of the second.

Then, after previously failing to capitalize on a 90 second 5-on-3 power play, the Penguins had a second crack at an extended 5-on-3 thanks to a few more stupid penalties by the woeful Lightning.

This time, the Penguins made them pay on the man-advantage.

Twice.

Sidney crosby got both goals, first burying a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin to up the Penguins' lead to 2-0 on the 5-on-3, then taking a great feed in open space from LW Chris Kunitz and breaking in alone on Ramo before beating him stick side to up the lead to 3-0 on the 5-on-4.

When Matt Cooke scored early in the 3rd period after another great set-up by Staal, the Penguins took their foot off the gas, and that allowed Tampa Bay to get back in the game.

Jeff Halpern, Martin St. Louis and Paul Szczechura all scored in the next 5 minutes to bring the Lightning within 1. While St. Louis' goal was a nice finish off a perfectly executed 2-on-1 by him and Tampa rookie Steven Stamkos, the Lightning got a break on Szczechura's goal because one of the Lightning players clearly pushed Penguins' defenseman Hal Gill into goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury right before Szczechura scored, and Fleury had no chance.

There was no call on the play.

But what goes around comes around.

And quickly.

Petr Sykora scored just 2 minutes later for Pittsburgh to up their lead again, this time to 5-3, after Fedotenko sped down the left side on a near-breakaway, only to have Ramo stop the shot but leave a juicy rebound which Sykora -- trailing the play -- picked up and deposited into the empty cage easily while Fedotenko's stick was caught up with Ramo.

The Lighting argued the non-call but to no avail.

It was Sykora's 300th career goal and first in 8 games.

By the way -- how great was it to see him get off the snide? The Penguins need him going into the postseason.

After Jeff Halpern scored again with about 40 seconds left, Staal sealed it with an empty netter to send the Penguins into the playoffs officially.

After wins by the Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals last night, it's looking more and more like the Penguins' will play the New Jersey devils in round 1. There are, of course, 2 games left for every other relevant team in the Eastern race (except for Philadelphia, who has 3 games), so things aren't official, but that's where its leaning right now.

More after tomorrow night's shirt-off-their-backs home finale against the New York Islanders. Let's hope the Penguins can paste them to the tune of 9-0, just like the Hurricanes did last night.

NOTES

With 2 assists against the Lightning, Malkin now has 110 points on the season and remains 2 points ahead of Alexander Ovechkin -- who had a goal and an assist last night -- for the Art Ross Trophy.

Crosby scored his 30th and 31st goals last night, which also were his 100th and 101st points of the year, making he and Malkin the first Penguins to both get 100 points in the same season in 13 years. The last time it was done was in 1995-96 when Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr turned the trick.

The Penguins also now have had 30 100-point seasons in their franchise -- most in the history of the NHL.

Crosby's 100 point season is his 3rd in 4 years in the league. Last season, when he missed nearly 30 games because of his ankle injury was the only year he did not reach the century mark.