Think the Pittsburgh Penguins saw last night's game against the New York Islanders as an opportunity to rev up their offensive engine in advance of Thursday's showdown at Mellon Arena against the Washington Capitals?
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sure did.
In dominating performances by both Penguin superstars, Pittsburgh romped to a 6-4 victory over their division rivals last night.
Crosby had 2 goals and 4 assists to tie a career high for 6 points in a game, while Malkin had a hat trick to pace the Penguins.
All of Malkin's goals -- including the final one, an empty netter -- came on the power play, to cap an evening where one of the worst man-advantage units in the league looked virtually unstoppable.
Pittsburgh scored 4 power play goals on 7 chances in the contest, swarming New York netminder Dwayne Roloson and an Islanders squad that had come into the game winning 4 straight and 6 of their last 7.
Crosby opened the scoring, picking up a loose puck and roofing it past a sprawled Roloson with a minute and change before the first period expired.
In the second, the fireworks began.
Malkin got his first goal of the night almost 4 minutes in, ripping a slapshot from the point past Roloson to give the Pens' a 2-0 lead.
Bill Guerin scored another power play tally 3 minutes later, as Crosby drew traffic in the slot before backhanding a pass to an open Guerin, again to Roloson's right. He made no mistake.
Defenseman Andy Sutton then scored for the Islanders to make it 3-1 by roofing a top corner shot past Pens' netminder Brent Johnson -- starting because of Marc-Andre Fleury's continuing issues with his broken finger, and making his first appearance after missing 4 games himself because of a groin problem.
Fortunately, Crosby answered a few minutes later, again picking up another loose biscuit and this time roofing it past Roloson from the left side of the crease to give Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead.
However, New York rallied with the next three goals, including another top corner shot by another defenseman -- Freddie Meyer -- before the period ended, then 2 more early in the third when Islanders' forward Trent Hunter scored less than a minute into the period and Richard Park added the tying marker 7 minutes in.
These aren't the same Islanders, that's for sure. In fact, if the regular season ended today, they'd be a playoff team in the Eastern Conference.
Pittsburgh was able to regain its equilibrium, though, when Malkin scored on another wicked slapper -- this time from low in the right circle -- to give the Pens the lead again at 5-4 at the 11 minute mark.
Malkin closed out the scoring -- and his HT -- on the power play by getting an empty net goal after the Islanders pulled Roloson to try and even the game, making it a 6-4 final.
The bad news for the Penguins coming out of the game was that Malkin's final tally was scored on a 5-minute major power play awarded to Pittsburgh when Sutton blindsided Pens' LW Pascal Dupuis into the boards behind the Islander net with about 3 minutes to go.
Dupuis went face first into the dasher and sustained a deep gash above his left eye. There was noticeable blood on the ice and Dupuis needed immediate medical aid.
The good news is that, after the game, the prognosis looked relatively good for Dupuis. It seems that he didn't sustain any serious head trauma or a concussion with the hit.
Dupuis wasn't the only forward to leave the game for Pittsburgh, though.
LW Max Talbot left the game in the 2nd period after sustaining a foot injury and did not return.
His injury also doesn't look too serious, but he may be out for a few games.
Last night's win was big for Pittsburgh. New York came in hot and beating them was no easy task. It was important that the Pens get back on the winning side of the ledger after what happened to them Saturday night in Vancouver. And that's exactly what they did, getting strong performances from their two best players and controlling large parts of the play.
Pittsburgh also went an incredible 41-19 in the face-off circle last night.
The Pens have won 4 of their last 6 and are now just 2 points behind the suddenly struggling Devils in the Atlantic Division.
Thursday's game against the Caps is a huge one. Expect Johnson to be in goal for Pittsburgh again, since it's doubtful Fleury will be ready to return.
In fact, I'm sure that's one of the reasons why Head Coach Dan Bylsma gave Johnson the nod last night, instead of giving John Curry a shot at redemption after his miserable effort on Saturday against the Canucks.
Thursday's matchup is going to be a big game for Johnson, too -- going up against his former club. Let's hope that motivation works out well for him. He's going to need to stand strong in the net against a wicked offensive barrage from Washington, and he's going to need to stand up more in goal in the process. He battled well against the Islanders last night, but he continues to drop to his knees a bit early on several shots. That's why Sutton and Meyer were able to beat him last night. Johnson is so big that if he just stands up, those pucks will hit him. The Capitals array of weapons can pick corners well, so BJ is going to have to be on top of his game on Thursday for Pittsburgh to have a chance.
More later.
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