Who Will Man-Up For The Penguins In Game 6?

Going into today's nationally televised game 6 against the Philadlephia Flyers in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series (3 PM EST), the Pittsburgh Penguins have only received goals from 5 forwards in this series:

Of course, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are on that list.

Bill Guerin and Tyler Kennedy, too.

Max Talbot has managed an empty net tally.

And, like Bugs Bunny said, that's all folks.

Which means that the Penguins would be well served to get scoring from some other guys on their roster if they have a desire to finish off the Flyers now and avoid an anything-can-happen game 7 on Monday at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins were tied for 4th in the NHL in goals scored this year. They need contributions on the scoresheet from guys like Jordan Staal, Chris Kunitz, Ruslan Fedotenko and even Matt Cooke or Pascal Dupius.

Those players have contributed in other ways, but they need to put pucks in if Pittsburgh is going to stand the best chance to move on.

The Flyers have gotten a handful of goals from their 4th liners in this series -- Daniel Carcillo, Darrell Powe, etc. -- and the Penguins need to match that.

Perhaps if the Penguins skate more aggressively today and get back to their game, they'll make Biron forget about his game 5 shutout.

They also need to be strong and smart in their own zone defensively around goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

It's not going to be easy, of course. The Flyer crowd at the Wachovia Center is likely to be more rowdy than usual, and will give Philadelphia a lot of energy.

But the Penguins are a good club. They haven't lost 2 consecutive games in regulation since Dan Bylsma took over as coach. And they are 8-7 in their last 15 in Philadelphia, which means they can handle the hostile venue.

And in the end, they have 2 of the best 3 players in the game, either one of which is capable of single-handedly leading them to victory, regardless of whether they get contributions from others.

The Flyers have played the better hockey in this series, but given multiple chances to close out any series, I'll still take my chances with our boys. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they came out real strong today and ended the Flyers' season right on their own home ice.

Recap sometime post-game.

NOTES:

RW Petr Sykora is again expected to be a scratch for the Penguins in game 6, but Bylsma was non-committal on whether D Kris Letang would be back in the lineup, or even whether RW Miroslav Satan would continue to play in Sykora's place. If Satan doesn't go, expect RW Eric Godard to make his first appearance of the series.

For the first time in 8 years, the Flyers will not have Lauren Hart in their arena live to sing God Bless America before the game. She will be out of the country adopting a child. The Flyers will play a tape of her and clips of former singer Kate Smith doing the song.

The first sign of MoJo for the Penguins?