Winning Streak Reaches 4 as Pens Beat Bruins, 2-1

Could this be the beginning of the annual March of the Penguins?

After yesterday's 4th straight win -- a 2-1 defeat of the Boston Bruins at Mellon Arena -- its not at all unreasonable to think that Pittsburgh is just beginning its typical spring domination.

Pascal Dupuis -- his 16th -- and Evgeni Malkin provided the goals, and netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of 23 shots in leading the Penguins to their 40th victory of the season in their 66th game.

It's the 2nd fastest the franchise has ever reached the 40 win plateau.

Much like the last 3 games, the Penguins again dominated play for a majority of the game. They outshot a Bruins team that had won 6 of their last 7 by a 30-23 margin, and it wasn't really that close.

What also won't be that close is the decision on whether Penguins' LW Matt Cooke will be suspended after a shoulder-to-head head on Bruins' star center Marc Savard with 5 minutes left in the third period.

Savard just finished taking a shot and was in an exposed position just inside the Penguins' blue line when Cooke made contact.

Savard was knocked momentarily unconscious on the play, and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. I heard mixed reports after the game with regard to whether he was hospitalized, but he did stay in Pittsburgh overnight.

It appeared to me that Cooke was -- as he said after the game -- simply following through with his check. He didn't leave his feet or stick out his elbow. His arm remained mostly tight to his body.

Unfortunately, though, the league has adopted a de facto no-tolerance policy for hits to the head in the league these days, even if there is no formal rule.

Because of that, and because Cooke is a repeat offender in the NHL's disciplinary system after having already been suspended 2 games this year for a blow to the head of New York Rangers' forward Artem Anisimov, there's little doubt in my mind that Cooke is going to have to be in the press box for a little while after this one.

I expect a 4-6 game suspension for him.

Let's hope RW Bill Guerin -- who missed his 3rd straight game yesterday with back spasms -- will be ready to get back into the lineup to take his place.

Cooke's hit aside, Pittsburgh is just playing very well overall, and they are being rewarded for it in the standings. After beating Boston yesterday and after the New Jersey Devils surprisingly lost to the woeful Edmonton Oilers, the Pens' now sit 5 points up on the Devils in the Atlantic.

While New Jersey still has 2 games in hand, let alone an opportunity to go head-to-head with Pittsburgh twice in the next 2 weeks during the Pens' upcoming 5-game road swing, the Penguins certainly can't complain about their position. If they can beat the Devils in these games -- something they have yet to do this year in 4 tries -- they will really drive a wedge between them and New Jersey in the standings.

More later this week.