Punchless Penguins Shutout By Atlanta, 1-0; Will Face Ottawa In Round 1 Of Postseason

With the Pittsburgh Penguins still in contention for the Atlantic Division crown and a possible #2 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, there were few surprises in the Pens' 1-0 road loss to the Atlanta Thrashers last night.

Sure, you'd think you'd get at least one goal out of a team with so much on the line.

Against an opponent that won't make the post-season.

And that traveled all the way home from the nation's capital late the night before after a night of abuse by the Capitals in a 5-2 Washington win.

Nope.

But you did get another up close and personal look at what has been the hallmark of the Penguins this season.

Inconsistency.

After blowing up offensively in their last outing -- a 7-3 destruction of the New York Islanders at home on Thursday night -- the Penguins weren't able to get a single puck behind Thrasher netminder, and former Pen, Johan "The Moose" Hedberg.

Atlanta forward Bryan Little put up the only tally that was necessary for the Thrashers to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Now, I, for one, don't think the Penguins were awful out there. Contrary to Pens' LW Ruslan Fedotenko, who commented after the game about how the Pens have lost their 'swagger', I thought Pittsburgh was in control most of the contest last night. In fact, overall, I think they played a decent game. They outplayed Atlanta, outshot them 33-22, and had some good scoring chances (even hit a few posts). They just couldn't get over the hump.

The problem for the Penguins is that they are now at the point of the season where style points don't matter.

Wins and losses is all that will dictate when the post-season begins.

Which, for the Penguins, will open up against the Ottawa Senators for the 3rd time in 4 seasons.

Thanks to their loss and the New Jersey Devils' 7-1 beating of the New York Islanders last night, the Devils were able to clinch the Atlantic crown without regard to the results of today's contests between the Pens' and Islanders and Devils and Sabres (who will be battling for 2nd and 3rd position, anyway).

Ottawa has been locked into the 5th position for several days, so the only question at this point is when exactly at Mellon Arena will the series commence.

That's likely to be announced sometime today (tonight, perhaps) or tomorrow morning.

Without delving into that matchup too deeply -- I'll have my series breakdown in a few days -- it's worth noting that the Penguins may have some injury concerns to deal with going into that series.

First, they played again last night without LW Chris Kunitz, who is recovering from a shoulder problem. Although nobody is ready to say for sure that he'll play in the post-season, he's close to being ready after missing the last 3 games. There's a small chance he may even play today, but that remains to be seen.

In addition, they lost 2 other important contributors during the game last night.

LW Matt Cooke left the ice after getting into a fight with Thrashers' rookie Evander Kane and being knocked into next week.

Kane was running around a little bit on the ice during the game and, after Cooke laid a check on him in the early in the second period, the two dropped the glvoes.

The bout was quick and one-sided as Kane landed two rapid right hands square to Cooke's kisser and sent him on the ice dazed and confused.

As a stretcher was quickly brought out, things didn't look good for a key member of Pittsburgh's 3rd line, but after a while, Cooke sat up, then skated off gingerly under his own power.

He didn't return to the game and was said to be held out for precautionary reasons.

Head Coach Dan Bylsma said Cooke is okay, but he'll certainly undergo testing to be sure he's not suffering from concussion symptoms. Until we hear that he's otherwise cleared to play, his status remains up in the air.

So does that of defenseman Brooks Orpik, who urgently left the game early in the third period with some apparent lower body problem.

On last night's FSN Pittsburgh broadcast, play-by-play mand Paul Steigerwald and color guy Bob Errey said it looked like Orpik may have gotten cut on the leg by a skate of a Thrasher player.

That hasn't been confirmed, but on the replay, Orpik could be seen staying with the play without any apparent problem after the contact that supposedly injured him, then only going off after the puck cleared the Pens' zone.

I have no word at this point on the scope or severity of any injury Orpik sustained, but he didn't return to the game, so that says something.

More should be known on his status today before the Islanders' game.

With nothing to play for today, we'll see if the Penguins focus on getting Sidney Crosby the goal-scoring title.

Sid is currently one goal back of Alexander Ovechkin of the Caps' and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning. Stamkos had 2 goals last night to hit 50 and vault ahead of Crosby.

The Lightning play at Florida at 5 PM today (the same time the Pens' and Isles' kick off), while Ovehckin and Washington host the Boston Bruins at noon.

With 4 points by Vancouver Canucks' center Henrik Sedin last night, the Art Ross trophy is pretty much out of Sid's grasp at this juncture.

I'll have a game recap tomorrow, and more on the Penguins' first round opponent. Let's hope Pittsburgh can go out on a strong note, at least.

Let's Go Pens!