2009/2010 Penguin Player Grades

It's that time of year again -- albeit much earlier this time around.

While the Pittsburgh Penguins focus on the upcoming NHL draft and free-agency -- and grit their teeth because their arch rival Philadelphia Flyers will battle Marion Hossa and the Chicago Blackhawks for the Stanley Cup this season -- the off-season brings the opportunity for those of us in the blogosphere to critically analyze each player's season-long performance. For me, that means revealing my much-anticipated yearly player grades.

As in prior seasons, my 2009/2010 grades are given based on each player's contribution when compared to what was reasonably expected during the season, and includes consideration of playoff performance.

There will be grades for every primary roster player on the team throughout the course of the year. That means if you were called up for a 2, 5 or even 10 game cup-of-coffee (read: Chris Conner, Mark Letestu, etc.), you won't find an evaluation of your play here, so you better seek out the Pens' coaching staff for that.

The grades also will be listed in order, from A on down, rather than by position. This, too, is consistent with my evaluations in prior years.

So, without keeping anyone on the edge of their seats any longer .....

SIDNEY CROSBY: Crosby was the Penguins' best player this season, and it's becoming awfully hard to come up with ways he can do more for the team. Before the year began, two of the things he was outspoken about wanting to improve upon were his face-off percentage and becoming a better goal-scorer. Check and check. Crosby became markedly better in the circle, winning about 56% of his draws, and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy by finishing with a league-leading 51 goals, tying Tampa Bay Lightning wuderkind forward Steven Stamkos for the award. Crosby finished 2nd in league scoring overall this year with 109 points, 3 behind Vancouver Canucks forward Henrik Sedin. Crosby did struggle against the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the playoffs, but it's hard to be critical of his post-season play after dominating the Ottawa Senators in the first round and still putting up 19 points in 13 games. Not only does Crosby remain the league's most popular and marketable commodity, he continues to be the biggest driving force behind the Penguins' success. A+

MATT COOKE: The fact that Cookie is the 2nd person on this list says a lot about the Pens' season, both bad and good. Bad in that a few of the other more notable Penguins' players aren't listed before him; good in that it shows how well Cooke played this season. Cooke's numbers weren't off the charts but his 15 goals and 15 assists (and 4 big playoff goals) are just about the perfect totals for a guy in his role on the 3rd line. Moreover, everyone knows that what Cooke has brought to the Penguins the last two seasons isn't just embodied in scoring statistics. Cooke plays a physical, abrasive style that complements the Penguins' other skilled players so well. He also is a really strong penalty killer and defensively responsible at even strength, as evidenced by his +17 rating this year. Cooke did so much so well for the Penguins this year that it's not hard to see why he's likely to get a meaningful raise on his 1.2 million dollar salary in unrestrictied free agency this summer. I just hope it's Pittsburgh that gives it to him. A-

PASCAL DUPUIS: Dupuis is another guy who exceeded most expectations this year. Falling just 2 goals shy of the 20-goal plateau, Dupuis demonstrated a better scoring acumen this year, while continuing to be a valuable and generally responsible player capable of filling in on any wing on any line. I would be hard pressed to find someone who was dissatisfied with very many parts of Duper's game this season. A-

BROOKS ORPIK: The Penguins' most physical and responsible defenseman this year, Orpik probably had the most consistent season of his career from game 1 to game 7 of the second round of the playoffs. Orpik also started adding a little offense to his game this year, putting up 25 points on the season. #44 again was one of the league's top hitters all season long, and provides a presence on the Penguins' blueline they just don't have in their other rearguards. He's also one of the team's better leaders in the locker room, and will always provide the real 'pulse' of the team when asked. A-

JORDAN STAAL: Staal has been one of the league's better defensive players ever since he came into the league 4 years ago, but only this year has his work attained full national recognition, which is what being a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward will do. Staal's rock-like presence on the Penguins' 3rd line allows them to run deeper down the middle than any club in the league, and his ability to be an offensive contributor shouldn't be knocked either, as Staal tied a career high with 49 points this year on 21 goals and 28 assists. He had a little bit of a rough post-season (particularly in the first round) and finished with only 5 goals and an unusual -4 rating in 11 playoff contests, but he also demonstrated legendary toughness missing just two post-season games after undergoing what was expected to be season-ending surgery to repair a lacerated tendon on top of his right foot after game 1 of the second round. His upside is also the biggest underlying reason why trade rumors involving Evgeni Malkin are so prominent in these parts. B+

SERGEI GONCHAR: #55 is the Penguins' biggest off-season question headed into free agency, and what the team does with him will be something everyone watches in the next 35 days or so. Gonchar again missed time to injury this year (which has happened 2 seasons in a row now), but as I said in this space a few days ago, only two other blueliners scored at a point-per-game pace better than Sarge's this season. Finishing 6th among all defensemen in scoring with 50 points in 62 games is nothing to sneeze at. Gonchar also had 12 points in 13 playoff games for those who were paying attention. In all fairness, I don't believe Gonchar was as responsible in his own end this year as he was last season, but there's no mistaking that his primary value to the Penguins lies in creating offense. While there are mixed feelings in Penguin nation about whether Gonchar was a major reason why the Pens' power play struggled for a lot of the year, anyone who doesn't appreciate the subtle things he does to QB the triangle at the point for Pittsburgh needs to pay more attention. At 36, and after 5 years with the team, will he stay or will he go? I advocated for dealing Gonchar before the trading deadline last year but, at this point, the landscape is different. Personally, I'm hoping for 2 more seasons in Pittsburgh with him. B+

CRAIG ADAMS: Adams is a favorite of Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma and it's not hard to see why. He kills penalties well, is a great team guy, and plays a physical 4th line role for the club. He can't score a regular season goal to save his life (he's now gone over 100 games without one), but he does have 5 goals in the last 40 or so playoff games, which is no coincidence considering that his style of play is more valuable in the post-season than it is in the regular season. Adams was a nice waiver-wire pick-up before last year's Cup run who probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon. B

BILL GUERIN: I have to admit that the 39-year old Guerin gave me more than I expected this season. I anticipated his game falling off some, but his 21 goals and 45 points shoved that in my face, and the leadership he provided beyond those numbers made him even more valuable. But all that said, Guerin is at the year-to-year stage of his career, where his limitations can be seen almost as much as his strengths. His -9 this year despite playing on Crosby's line much of the season shows that he can be a bit of a defensive liability. He also isn't a great puck-retriever in the corner and along the wall any longer because he just can't get to the biscuit as quickly as he used to. Because it's hard to imagine him getting faster on the ice, Guerin is going to face questions about how much he really can contribute to the team every off-season until he retires, including this one. I expect the Penguins to bring the unrestricted free agent back for one more kick at the can in the opening season of Consol Energy Center, but the interesting thing to watch will be to see what Pittsburgh puts on the table for him money-wise. B

BRENT JOHNSON: Basically, teams with a #1 goaltender like the Penguins look for one main thing from their backup goaltender: keep the team competitive when you're between the pipes. With a 10-6-1 record, a 2.76 GAA and a 90.6 SV %, Johnson pretty much gave Pittsburgh everything they could have asked from him in that regard this season. It's also part of the reason Pens' GM Ray Shero didn't waste any time signing the veteran to a 2-year contract extension late in the season. He's a great complement to Marc-Andre Fleury, and I'm glad he's sticking around for a little while. B

MIKE RUPP: Rupp started off the season like gangbusters, shedding his role as a physical, 4th line checking forward good at dropping the mitts and instead exceeding his career high in goals by mid-season and looking like he could be a 20-goal scorer. But Rupp came back down to earth in the second half of the season and settled more into doing what he was brought here to do -- bang bodies and provide a presence. He's still an effective 4th liner who has hands that everyone now knows can do damage not just with his fists. B

MARK EATON: For the second straight season, Eaton was healthy most of the year, and his consistent performance on the ice reflects why Shero signed him to a 2-year deal a few years ago, despite coming off several injury-plagued seasons. There's nothing fancy about Eaton's game, as his 3 goals and 13 assists and +5 rating in 79 games attest, but that's exactly what Pittsburgh looks for from him. Like 7 other Penguin regulars, he's an unrestricted free agent this summer, and watching how Shero deals with that situation will be another one worth watching. Eaton's next contract will likely be his last meaningful payday in his career, but he probably feels some loyalty to Pittsburgh in light of the circumstances under which he signed his last deal. B

KRIS LETANG: Tanger has all the tools to be a star in the National Hockey League, but hasn't found a way to harness everything in his toolbox on a consistent basis yet. His numbers this season -- 3 goals and 24 assists -- were below what he's capable of, but his 5 goals from the backline in only 13 post-season constests shows what he can do when he puts his mind to it. Letang needs to be sure he puts his mind to everything, though, because while he was an impact player for Pittsburgh in the playoffs, it wasn't always because he was producing offense, as his -5 rating and 14 post-season giveaways attest. Despite that, Letang has shown in the past that he can be a strong defensive and physical presence of the Penguins on the blueline -- he just needs to bear down with his focus level more. Letang is still pretty young and will probably be around these parts for a while after signing a new contract late this season, but if Pittsburgh doesn't bring back Sergei Gonchar in 2010/2011, he's going to have to grow up in a hurry for the Penguins next year. B-

JORDAN LEOPOLD: Leopold was a late addition to the team after being acquired in a deal from the Florida Panthers for a 2nd round pick before this season's trade deadline. It took several games for Leopold to get his feet wet, but once he did, his skills in the transition game in Bylsma's system took over, and he was on a pretty hot goal-scoring streak for a blueliner as the playoffs began. In fact, I identified him as a big potential difference maker for the Penguins going into the post-sesason. Unfortunately, that was before Ottawa Senators' defenseman Andy Sutton shelved him for more than 2 weeks with a concussion in game 2 of the second round, and Leopold wasn't the same player when he returned. Because of his short tenure in Pittsburgh, the book on him as a Penguin isn't really complete. When healthy, he can put up 30 or so points a year and be fairly sound in his own end. He was paid a reasonable 1.75 million dollars last year but as an unrestricted free agent and with the Pens' defensive plans uncertain right now, it's hard to say whether or not he'll be back. C+

CHRIS KUNITZ: Kunitz had the type of regular season we probably should have expected at this point of his career -- 13 goals, 32 points, and only 50 games played due to various ailments. Given his physical style, there's simply always the risk of #14 missing time. Kunitz was one of the Penguins' better players in the post-season, though, scoring 4 goals and 11 points in 13 games and using his punishing forechecking to create space and wear down opposing blueliners. If he could bring that play consistently during the regular season, it would make the 3.5 million dollars he's getting paid easier to swallow. As it is, on a team with little cap space, it's easy to feel that Kunitz isn't always pulling his weight for a guy who plays regularly on the wing with the best center in the game. If Kunitz can stay healthy and up his production to the 25 goal and 60-65 point level, his grade will go up next year. As it is, he's middling around average. C+

MARC-ANDRE FLEURY: Fleury's record in the regular season, 37-21-6, probably suggests an above average year. However, his other, more individual statistical numbers -- a 2.67 GAA and a 90.5 SV% -- dropped this year. Worse, Fleury regressed from a consistency standpoint. From January on, he wasn't able to string together several weeks of strong play. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, that continued in the post-season, when he may have demonstrated his overall worst playoff performance as a Penguin. His SV % in the post-season was only 89.1 and, while Fleury finally was a main factor in the Penguins winning a few games in the second round (which he wasn't in round 1), he was significantly below average in several of their losses. He let up several soft (and early) goals and, unlike the guy we saw through most of the last two playoff runs here in Pittsburgh, didn't give his struggling teammates enough of a chance to stay in several games. Goaltending is so crucial in the playoffs and, because of that, it isn't a stretch to say that Fleury's step back this year might have been the biggest contributing factor to the Penguins' 2nd round playoff exit. He clearly needs to up his play next season. C

EVGENI MALKIN: The fact that Malkin and Fleury are so far down this list says everything about why I'm even preparing this piece now instead of talking about what could have been an exhilarating Stanley Cup Final between the Pens' and Blackhawks. By everyone's account, Malkin had a sub-par offensive season, with only 28 goals and 77 points just one year after putting up about 35 more points and not only winning the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading regular season scorer, but also the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. Worse, Geno was not much better in this year's post-season. He did have 11 points in 13 games and showed flashes of brilliance but, for the most part, was a non-factor at even strength against both the Senators and Montreal Canadiens. Malkin still seems to brood and get down on himself unnecessarily at times and, at 24 years old now, he has to start growing out of that. Consistency wasn't an issue for him before this season, but it is now. C

ALEX GOLIGOSKI: Goligoski was another guy that started off the season like gangbusters this year, and looked like a rearguard who would finish in the top 5 in the league in scoring at his position. After he was hurt in November, he never was the same player. When he returned, he struggled to put up points at the same clip and his confidence took a tumble. He finished with 8 goals and 37 points in 69 games -- and still was a +7 -- but after seeing a glimpse of what he was capable of, it's hard not to look at his season as somewhat of a disappointment for him. His 9 points in 13 playoff games was a decent contribution, but there's still more Goligoski can do. Like Letang, he may have to take a big step forward next year if Sergei Gonchar doesn't re-sign with the team. C

JAY McKEE: McKee was relatively dependable for the Penguins this year. He's a good shot blocker and solid penalty killer -- two valuable traits -- but his limitations beyond that take away from how good he is in those areas. Overall, he wasn't as much of an impact player as I felt he could have been. He was a bargain this year salary-wise because of a buyout payment he was receiving from his former team, the St. Louis Blues. As an unrestricted free-agent who will probably comman more on the market -- and with Ben Lovejoy knocking down the door -- he'll likely leave Pittsburgh. C

ERIC GODARD: There's nothing new to say about Godard that I didn't say about him last year in this space. He's a physical 4th liner who does what he does well --- dropping the mitts -- and keeps other teams honest in the process. In the regular season, he kept his worth. In the post-season, he didn't play a game for the 2nd straight year. With Rupp on the roster, I think it's only a matter of time before the Penguins' give Godard's roster spot to a guy on the farm. C

TYLER KENNEDY: TK was another guy who missed time this year with an injury, and despite word in training camp that he was a viable candidate to take on more of a scoring role and perhaps move up from his well-played 3rd line position to the 2nd line with Malkin, Kennedy was never really able to make a meaningful offensive impact this year. He finished with a disappointing 13 goals, well shy of the 20 he should put up and the 25 many people think he's capable of scoring. Perhaps it's about time everyone rethink their position about that? Worse, Kennedy's problems this year went beyond putting the puck in the net. He was a healthy scratch for a few games and not doing enough of what he does best on the ice when he was in the lineup -- using his speed, banging bodies, and creating off the forecheck. Next year is a big season for Kennedy. If he doesn't improve, he could lose his spot on what many commonly feel is one of the best 3rd lines in hockey. C-

ALEXEI PONIKAROVSKY: Ponikarovsky was this year's big trade-deadline addition and, with a history of consistent 20-goal seasons under his belt on consistently below-average Toronto Maple Leaf teams, it was hard not to be excited about what he was capable of bringing to Pittsburgh's top-6 forward group, despite the fact that Pens' GM Ray Shero gave up one of his better wing prospects in Luca Caputi to get him. After about 15 regular season games and 13 playoff games, though, it's fair to say that what Poni gave the Penguins after being acquired didn't meet expectations. While he racked up some helpers, he only scored 2 regular season goals with the team (which included one in his first game after being acquired), and topped that by scoring only 1 in the post-season while being a healthy scratch for two games. Common wisdom suggests that the unrestricted 6' 4" ukranian free agent won't sign a contract with the Penguins and, while I think that result is probably more likely than not because I suspect there will be plenty of other teams willing to give him a chance, I think Shero will at least kick the can with him and explore the possibility of bringing him back. As it is, though, what the Penguins got from Poni after they dealt for him can only be considered a disappointment. D+

MAX TALBOT: Talbot is another guy who had a real tough season. The year started with the 2009 Stanley Cup hero on the shelf still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and, when he did come back after missing 20 or so games, he was unable to get on track before being hurt again and missing time with a groin injury, among other ailments. Overall, Talbot played 45 games and scored only 7 points. He also was +9. On the bright side, he did show more of his big-game persona in the post-season, scoring 6 points in 11 games. Considering everything, however, this season has to be a disappointment for him, too. He continues to be a valuable role player and team guy for Pittsburgh, though, and I'm sure he can't wait to start fresh next season. D+

RUSLAN FEDOTENKO: Speaking of disappointments, Rusty was the Penguins' biggest. He scored 11 goals in 80 games and earned his -17 rating for the year honestly. Worse, the hope that he would raise his game in the playoffs -- as he did last year and as he had a history of doing -- didn't materialize either. Part of that was because he had been playing so poorly, he couldn't even get in the post-season lineup, but part of it was demonstrated when he didn't put up a single point and was a -3 in the 6 games he did play. I'm 110% certain he won't return next year. D-


That's it boys and girls. It's interesting to compare these grades to my end-of-season grades last year. When you do, you can see the differences, mainly in terms of how many grades there are at C and below this year (11, vs. 4 last season), and in the fact that two of the Penguins 3 most important players (Malkin and Fleury) received grades at that level this season. That's simply not good enough - and it dovetails with Pittsburgh's early exit from the playoffs this post-season. Needless to say, the team as a whole has to be better next year.

The betting here is that they will.

More soon.

A Penguins Season Post-Mortem: Part III

And so, in this, my last, post-mortem report on the Penguins' still-depressing second-round ouster at the hands of a Montreal Canadiens team that now hasn't scored a single goal in their Eastern Conference Final series against the Philadelphia Flyers after 2 games, I want to focus on the fulcrum around which much of Pittsburgh's off-season will be based.

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar.

I want to talk about Sarge, and the implications of his upcoming unrestricted free-agency on the team's summer plans as a whole. Before I do that, however, I first want to again express how astounded I was about the repeated and severe criticism I read having to do with the way he played the Habs' 4th goal in Pittsbugh's game 7 home defeat against the Canadiens.

That tally, of course, was Travis' Moen's awful and deflating shorthanded goal, the 4th in Montreal's run to a 4-0 lead and, evenutal 5-2 victory.

The knock on Gonchar for that sequence in the game came because of the way it appeared that he lazily dummied the play. Think back to the action. After a terrible giveaway in the offensive zone by teammate Chris Kunitz, Moen gets the biscuit, starts up the ice and then, at the center red line, dumps it behind Gonchar. When Sarge doesn't turn to get the puck in earnest or do a whole lot to disrupt the attacking Moen, he skates around #55, gets to the puck (which hadn't been dumped all the way in) at the left circle, then wrists a shot that easily gets through Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury.

Almost every piece I read in the aftermath of that ugly game 7 defeat spoke out harshly about the disinterested manner Gonchar played that sequence. I expected some of that -- from those who don't know a lot about the game. But what I didn't expect was even respected writers like Hall-of-Fame scribe Dave Molinari from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette criticizing Gonchar for the play.

I said it before and I'll say it again --- Gonchar played it right. He didn't turn around to get the puck in earnest because power-play partner Kris Letang was backtracking on the play with him and was almost parallel to Gonchar at the red-line when the dump-in was made. When an attacking forward dumps the puck in like that, it's up to the partner to turn and get it, and up to the impeding defenseman to just get in the way of the attacking forward enough to either make him go around him or disrupt his progress slightly.

Moen ultimately got to the puck for two reasons on that play. First, Letang was late in getting over. Second, Moen didn't dump it in all the way. Had he done that, Tanger would have had enough time to beat Moen to the biscuit. As it was, Moen got to it first and a terrible effort by Fleury once he did allowed what probably amounted to the back-breaking goal in the deciding game.

I'll admit that Gonchar could have done a better job impeding, but on the power play with your partner right there, you don't think there's a great risk in that situation. And you certainly don't want to take a needless interference minor penalty. Dump ins by shorthanded teams happen all the time like that. I don't blame Gonchar for not being on high-alert or otherwise playing it the way he did.

The bottom line is that the play looked a lot worse for Gonchar because of the end result than it had to do with the way he played it. Anyone who knows the game -- including Molinari -- should have picked up on that.

Anyway, that play was an unfortunate way for Sarge to basically end the year because it went hand-in-hand with the already rampant speculation about his status with the team for next season.

As most people know, the Penguins' power-play quarterback is an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 2009/2010 season was the last of a 5-year, $25 million dollar contract he signed with Pittsburgh coming out of the lockout season. With the Penguins and GM Ray Shero not having a lot of room under the salary cap, it's a fair question as to whether everyone will see Gonchar in black and gold again.

Of course, the question of whether Gonchar will or not remains to be seen. The question of whether he should, however, is why I have a blog like this.

Most observers think Gonchar won't be back with Pittsburgh next year, largely because of the cap and the fact that reports seem to indicate Sarge isn't interested in taking much of a 'hometown discount' in his next -- probably career last -- contract. Speculation is that Gonchar is hoping to maintain his current salary of 5 million per season on a 3 or 4 year deal.

I'm pretty certain the Penguins won't pay that (even if other teams might) or go to an extreme 4 year term, but how close can they get on either front? I believe Shero is willing to offer Gonchar a 2-year deal at around 4 or 4.25 million per, or perhaps -- perhaps -- even a three year deal for a little less annual money. I don't know if that will be enough to keep him, but that's probably about the limit of what we're talking about.

If Gonchar leaves, the Pens' will undoubtedly have a big hole on their blueline -- one they won't be able to completely fill, no matter how much young defenseman Letang and Alex Goligoski improve next year. Gonchar's veteran presence and subtle skill on the point of the power-play (looking off, changing shooting angles) are things that mean a ton and are things that #58 and #3 simply don't have down yet. Do the Penguins have to just live with that and let them learn, rather than overpay for a guy entering the twilight of his career who has had some injury problems the last few years?

Maybe.

But remember, Gonchar has shown no signs of slowing down when healthy. He rang up 50 points this year and still finished 6th overall in scoring among defenseman despite playing in only 62 games.

To put that in perspective, only Washington Capitals' defenseman Mike Green and Chicago Blackhawks' rearguard Duncan Keith -- who finished #1 and #2 in scoring among blueliners this year -- rang up more points per game than Gonchar. The other guys in front of Sarge -- Drew Doughty, Dan Boyle and Chris Pronger (and almost every one behind him) -- weren't even close.

Personally, I would like to see Gonchar return, if he's willing to take just a bit of a pay drop and sign for 2 more seasons, rather than 3. Sarge already spoke with Shero at the team's end-of-season meetings and I would expect the Pens' GM to keep the lines of dialogue open with Gonchar's camp into June as we approach the free-agency deadline of July 1.

If #55 isn't re-signed before then, look for Shero to see if he can get anything for Gonchar in the trade market in the way of a middle-round draft pick, much like he did with former Penguin Ryan Malone in the summer of 2008 after Pittsburgh lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Red Wings.

Make no mistake, though, everything the Penguins do this off-season revolves around Gonchar. If they keep him, their options to improve elsewhere will be more limited. If they let him go, then there's a much greater chance that Gonchar's free agent compadres on the backline, Mark Eaton and Jordan Leopold, may return.

I think there's a pretty good chance Eaton will return anyway, but Leopold's status is probably more tied to Gonchar's than anyone's. And that's true regardless of the fact that the Penguins re-signed physical depth defenseman Deryk Engelland to a 2-year, 2-way contract yesterday that will pay him $500,000 if he stays with the big club, and that the Penguins will probably also re-sign defenseman Ben Lovejoy -- who has as much chance as anyone of staying with the big club full time next season -- in the near future.

If Gonchar does leave, though, it might give the Penguins a chance to remake their team a little. They'll have more than $5 million more to spend in free-agency, and they could either use that on a shutdown, defensive blueliner like anticipated unrestricted free agents Anton Volchenkov of the Ottawa Senators and Dan Hamhuis of the Nashville Predators, or add it into the market for a forward up front.

While Volchenkov would look fabulous in a Pittsburgh uniform, he will probably command more in free agency than the Penguins would be willing to pay. If they can lock down Hamhuis for around 3 million a season, it would greatly improve the team's play physically and defensively in their own end. The Penguins made a run at Hamhuis before the trading deadline this season, and expect them to do so again in free-agency.

Notably, former Penguin Rob Scuderi is getting about 3.25 million per season on the contract the Los Angeles Kings gave him when they pulled him from Pittsburgh in free agency last summer. Think the Penguins' might have done better to keep him around and pay that after all? I don't know. I don't think defensive defensemen are quite worth that much, but the market dictates it. It's difficult in the cap world, but I don't think there's any doubt the Penguins weren't as strong in their own zone this season. Just as it's hard to not attribute that -- to SOME degree, anyway -- to the loss of Scuderi, and even Hal Gill after last season.

On the other side of the coin, the Penguins may be better at bolstering their continually subpar group of wingers with the extra $$$ they'd have if Gonchar walks. 3 or 4 million should be able to get a relatively accomplished winger to play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Surely the Penguins won't re-sign Ruslan Fedotenko after his season-long miserable play, and this year's marquee trade deadline acquisition up front -- Alexei Ponikarovsky -- is a big question mark to return as well, given his disappointing performance since Pittsburgh brought him to the team. Personally, I think Shero is still going to kick the tires on Poni in free-agency, but it's got to be highly questionable as to whether that will go anywhere.

There also has to be a question mark about 39-year old RW Bill Guerin.

Guerin is a great presence in the Penguins' locker room and, for a guy his age, had a relatively productive season with 21 regular season goals and 9 points in 11 post-season games. But how much does Billy "G" really have left? I said that before this last season and it's an even fairer question after another year. I can't say I'd mind seeing him come back for a final kick at the can in the opening year of the Consol Energy Center, but perhaps at a little less than he made this year (1.5 million vs. 2 million).

One other soon-to-be free agent is worth mentioning: LW Matt Cooke.

Shero will be wise to re-sign Cookie. By everyone's account (this writer included), Cooke is a perfect fit for this club on the ice on the 3rd line, and in the room. He had a strong season and a good playoff, which is what his game is tailor-made for. He'll command a raise on his current 1.2 million dollar a year salary -- maybe up to 2 million -- but re-signing him at or near that amount is the right way to go.

Again, time will tell what happens for Pittsburgh as they approach July 1. I will, of course, keep my readers alerted to any signings that happen between now and then.

In the meanwhile, I'm working on my end-of-season player grades, and should have those up early next week.

More then.

A Penguins Season Post-Mortem: Part II

Grisly was the word of the evening at my house last night.

While my wife was watching a horror movie called The Last House On The Left, I tuned in to game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Flyers and Canadiens only to be harsly reminded of the grisly feeling I had from last week when the Pens lost game 7 to the Habs -- and blew their chance to be hosting arch-rival Philadelphia in their 3rd straight east final in the process.

Then, to top it off, I had to digest the Flyers handing Montreal their lunch in a 6-0 game one defeat that made the team who looked like world-beaters knocking off the Penguins just days before instead seem like bottom-feeders.

Yep, blood, gore and anger were abound on the big screen in my house no matter what room you were in.

Which brings us again to the continually painful post-mortem of Pittsburgh's early departure from the playoff party.

I mentioned last week that I wanted to mention a quote from the Pens' Captain in the aftermath of the game 7 loss that I felt somewhat interesting.

When asked if he was surprised by the Canadiens' gumption in the series, Crosby said no, but went on to talk about how he felt his team had been caught waiting too much in the series. He said, quite simply, that "we were just a little too cautious."

Here's the Q & A session with #87 in its entirety:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=529016&navid=DLNHLhome

Curious, don't you think, that a defending Stanley Cup champion played "a little too cautious" in an entire series against such a big underdog -- or even in a game 7 after winning two of those (on the road no less) on the way to hosting the Silver Chalice the prior season?

Sounds like a team playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. And that surprises me greatly, because that's not what we've seen from the local hockey club the last few years.

I'm not sure I have an explanation; I just found the remark notable.

One other thing that I didn't mention last week that I wanted to address was the guy behind the Penguins' bench -- Head Coach Dan Bylsma. And interestingly, my thoughts about Byslma have changed a little in just the last few days.

Byslma has had a strong start to his coaching career since first going behind the bench in Pittsburgh last February. He's implemented a system that suits the strengths of his players -- and that I generally like (not that my tastes matter, but still .....)

I also like that Bylsma isn't afraid to go with what he believes will be the best lineup on a night-to-night basis, even if that means banishing respected veterans to the press-box.

As of 3 or 4 days ago, I was going to say that Bylsma's willingness to rub an experienced player the wrong way by scratching him healthy might have been about the only instance where he seems in any way critical or hard on his players. And I was going to question that.

That was until Friday when Blysma acknowledged that Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury didn't give the team what they are capable of this year -- and, in particular, this post-season.

Now, Bylsma didn't go off the deep end with his remarks, but he did make it clear that he expects more from those two key cogs in the Penguins' success.

Those are the type of comments that I haven't heard from Bylsma since he's been the Pittsburgh bench-boss. Maybe that's because the team hasn't had a great deal of adversity during that time -- who knows? But the fact of the matter is that, while a generally positive environment around the team and in the locker room was a welcome change from what the players received regularly under former coach Michael Therrein, some criticism and tough love is probably warranted from time to time in order to give the message from behind the bench more balance.

Certainly, Bylsma is a player's coach. And he's a coach with confidence in his players and system. He believes that if you play your game, you'll end up on the right side of the win/loss ledger more than not.

However, with the team being inconsistent and not reaching it's peak most of this season, there were times when I felt that Blysma needed to buck down on the players a bit more. Not constantly. Not all the time. Just sometimes.

Many people say that's where he needs the 'bad cop' assistant coach behind the bench -- which neither Mike Yeo or Tony Granato are. I don't necessarily disagree with that, but I still think criticism, when warranted, has to come from the lead dog sometimes.

One other note about Bylsma.

I read one piece where someone felt he was outcoached in the second round by Montreal coaching veteran Jacques Martin.

The theory went that Bylsma didn't win the matchup battle because he didn't do enough to help Crosby and Malkin produce ---- by, for example, getting them on the ice opposite players other than Canadiens' defenseman Hal Gill.

I'm not sure I agree with that critique. There's certainly something to be said for matchups in the post-season. Generally, I'm in favor of trying to exploit anything and everything to your advantage. But to suggest that Bylsma didn't do a good enough job of that is false, in my opinion.

There were times when Crosby or Malkin were out there on the ice against Montreal's #5 and #6 blueliners. Not every time, of course. But it did happen. Even so, if I were Bylsma, it would be hard for me to think that Crosby wouldn't win a head-to-head battle over the course of a 7-game series against the likes of Gill and Josh Gorges after just steamrolling one of the best defensive pairs in the game in Chris Philips and Anton Volchenkov of the Ottawa Senators in round 1.

Any GM in the league would pick that pair rather than Gill and Gorges and take their chances against Crosby, and #87 simply ate them for breakfast in the first round. There was absolutely no reason to think he couldn't do the same in round 2. The fact that Crosby struggled in that round was less a by-product of the play of Gill and Gorges and more about Habs' netminder Jaroslav Halak and the team defensive system the Canadiens trot out there every night.

Finally, I want to touch on Evgeni Malkin again.

In my post on Friday, I talked about the ridiculousness of the notion that Malkin was going to -- or should be -- traded, ripping up an article that one genius at The Hockey News wrote where he advocated for such a deal.

Apparently, the idea of dealing Geno has filtered down to the local media, too, as Pittsburgh Tribune Review Beat Writer Rob Rossi wrote about yesterday in this piece:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_681429.html

Now, I like Rossi. He works hard and covers the team pretty well. And I enjoy the fact that he often offers background insights into the club while not always covering them from a traditional, straightforward angle.

But he's grossly off the mark when he suggests that the Penguins might be a better club to trade Malkin.

I agree that the team could fill a lot of other needs by dealing #71, but I disagree that doing so would necessarily make them a better club.

I won't belabor this becasue I talked about it a little bit the other day, but I will say that the Penguins are not going to trade Malkin. Nope. Not going to happen. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month. Not next year.

Penguins' GM Ray Shero has structured his club as the best one down the middle in the game. And it's hard to argue with the success the team has had with that model over the last 3 seasons. Failing to go the distance in one year isn't enough to alter that, nor should it be.

Now, if the Penguins underachieve the next 1 or 2 seasons, this might be a subject worth revisiting. But right now, forget about it. Malkin's still one of the top 5 players in the game, and isn't going anywhere. Pittsburgh faithful should be thankful to have both him and Crosby suit up for them every night.

The media should, too.

And, by the way, even if the Penguins were to look to deal Malkin, I don't think there's any way they'd approach a return the likes of which Rossi requires. Despite how talented Geno is, teams won't offer six players for him. And certainly not 2 front line players (one up front and one on defense), two roster players AND either two #1 picks or two 'top' prospects. Not only is that not going to happen, the Penguins probably wouldn't be able to fit any 4 returning roster players of that caliber under the cap with 8.7 million dollars between them.

I'll have Part III of the post-mortem later this week, where I'll talk largely about Sergei Gonchar. I know I promised that this time, but I got on my soapbox a little bit today, so I apologize. Addressing Sarge's status next time will be a nice segway into thinking about free agency, too.

Also, after the post-mortem, I'll have end-of-the-season player grades.

More soon.

A Penguins Season Post-Mortem: Part I

Well, it's been several years since I've heard this kind of talk.

As the Pittsburgh Penguin players meet with the coaching staff and team management this morning to conduct their end-of-year meetings, the league remains in disbelief over the Penguins' 7-game defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, and both observers and fans alike are abuzz over what changes will or need to be made to the current Pittsburgh roster.

Emotions obviously remain raw over what happened on Wednesday night at Mellon Arena and, while I certainly understand and share that feeling, some people are going off the deep end.

For instance, the writer from The Hockey News who actually said the Penguins must trade Evgeni Malkin.

His article can be found here:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/33579-THNcom-Playoff-Blog-Penguins-must-trade-Malkin.html

Credit this guy for at least writing something people will talk about -- because that's what I'm doing -- even if what he says makes zero sense.

And that's being charitable.

I don't know how you can suggest trading Geno in one breath, and then in the same breath say that, if you don't get the deal you want, keep him, because "there are worse things than having Evgeni Malkin on your team."

Is that for real??

Sure, Malkin had a down season. Sure, he eats up 8.7 million dollars of cap space in a room that isn't getting any bigger.

But to trade him?

Laughable.

Malkin remains one of the most talented players in the game. One who, by the way, is 23 with about a decade of outstanding hockey in front of him. He's obviously still learning the importance of being consistent and brining his A-game night in and night out, but I think the Stanley Cup ring he already has shows that he's capable of doing it. For what he's provided the Penguins, I'm more than willing to give him a pass this season.

And that's true despite what a franchise player like him would fetch in a trade. Other teams would kill to have a guy like that center their #1 line. The Penguins are fortunate to have 2 game-breakers like him and Sidney Crosby.

Here's the next laughable piece of journalism I need to talk about:

http://www.puckupdate.com/2010/05/13/penguins-need-a-goalie-upgrade/?utm_source=bleacherreport.com

Not surprisingly, the target of this writer's critique is Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Now, I've been critical of Fleury in this space on several occasions this year, and frankly, that criticism came with a fair amount of justification. I think even Fleury would admit that he was inconsistent and uneven this year, and his playoff performance against the Canadiens was a microcosm of his play during the regular season, if not worse. He let up the first goal of the game to Montreal early on their first shot at least 3 times in the series and, in the last two games, finished with a 6.80 GAA and SV % of 76.9.

In fact, in the final game the other night when Pittsburgh needed him the most, he might have played his worst game as a Penguin.

BUT, to say he was the sole reason they lost, or that except last year, he hasn't put together a dominant, consistent stretch is sorely mistaken.

Fleury was far from the sole reason the Penguins lost to the Candiens. He was a reason -- and he could have been a difference maker -- but he was hardly the only one. And, as regular observers of the team know, Fleury wasn't just solid in last year's post-season, he was actually even better the year before when the Penguins made their first run to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Red Wings that season.

Like Malkin, Fleury is still working on his consistency, and like Malkin, I'm more than willing to give him a pass this year. I believe Fleury will bounce back strong next season. Regardless, he remains one of the top 10-15 netminders in the league. The Penguins could be doing a lot worse than keeping him around to tend goal for them the next 5-8 seasons.

Ask Philadelphia about that.

Did I actually call that piece on Fleury journalism?

Beyond those two genius pieces of authorship, there's a lot of other talk about what went wrong for the Penguins this season, and what they need next year. Some of it is right on point.

Pittsburgh has played a lot of hockey the last 3 seasons and, while nobody on the team will admit it takes a toll, the fatigue factor is undeniable. The Pens will benefit from having a longer off-season this year.

The Penguins also missed in this year's post-season the defensive presence that last year's two shutdown blueliners, Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, provided them. There's no doubt that Pittsburgh could have been better in its own end in this year's playoffs.

Just as, on the other side of the coin, there's no doubt they couldn't fairly afford to keep one those players. Scuderi is getting approximately 3.5 million dollars in Los Angeles to suit up for the Kings and, while it would be great to still have him around, the salary cap makes that impossible. Plain and simple.

Would the Penguins have benefitted from at least keeping Gill around at near 2 million or 2 million plus for a few years? Perhaps. After all, he did to them in a Canadiens' uniform exactly what he did to the opposition while wearing black and gold last year. But again -- Gill's absence was not the only reason, or the biggest reason, why Pittsburgh lost to Montreal.

Like the struggles of Malkin and Fleury, Pittsburgh had problems with being consistent most of the year. After a great start to the season the team's play leveled off most of the rest of the year. The Pens simply weren't able to get into a groove where they just ran off a month or 6 weeks of outstanding hockey.

But it isn't easy to be as consistently good of an outfit as the Penguins have been the last 3 years. AND, despite the up-and-down nature of their performance this year, they still finished with 101 points and nearly won the Atlantic Division. One more victory in the playoffs and we're sitting here talking about them being the first Eastern Conference team to participate in three consecutive Eastern Conference finals in nearly 3 decades.

But it's a fine line in this business, and while it took everything from the Canadiens to get by an underachieving Pittsburgh team, the fact remains that they're the one still playing, and the Penguins are not.

I'll have more post-mortem in the coming days, including discussion about an interesting quote from Crosby after game 7, some additional thoughts on Sergei Gonchar, and where the Penguins go from here.

By then, the anger may be in full bloom.

For now, disillusionment remains.

And Just Like That .... It's All Over

A series.

A season.

A building.

A dream of repeating as Stanley Cup Champions.

I know everyone in Penguin Nation -- myself included -- had grandiose visions of this season ending in June with the Penguins closing out the fabled Mellon Arena by winning the Stanley Cup back-to-back for the second time in their franchise's storied history, BUT for the first time on their home ice.

And after the top 3 seeds in the Eastern Conference unexpectedly bowed out of the post-season in round 1 this year, things appeared to be lining up for the local hockey club.

But then ... all of that ... everything ... it came to a crashing and violent end last night in the last hockey game ever to be played at The Igloo when the cinderella Montreal Canadiens refused to turn into a pumpkin and instead crushed the hopes of the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans by ending their season -- and their building -- with an indescribable 5-2 defeat in game 7 of their Eastern Conference Seminfinal.

Montreal prevailed 4-3 in the series.

You know, when I first started following hockey about 28 years ago, the team I hated the most was the Montreal Canadiens.

And that was even though the Canadiens didn't have a big rivarly with Pittsburgh.

The Habs were a perennially strong outfit back then. They won cups in 1986 and 1993. 24 in all in the history of their franchise.

That was about 25 too many for me.

Over the years, my hatred for Montreal waned, largely because they weren't as successful, and because the Penguins built big rivalries over the years with their hated division and east coast foes -- the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals, to name a few.

But now, after being the team who dealt the Penguins their first ever home loss at the now-Mellon Arena and the club who closed the buliding forever in the fashion they did with a final road victory over the Flightless Birds, my hatred has, not surprisingly, returned in great earnest.

That's not the only emotion I and Penguin players and followers are surely feeling this morning, though.

Disappointment, is another.

Dispair.

Disbelief.

You name it, the Penguins and their fans are feeling it, but what is undeniable is that Pittsburgh earned those emotions honestly by the way they played last night in game 7 -- and in the series as a whole, for that matter.

Pumped up in front of their own raucous crowd at the drop of the puck last night, the team went out and promptly let the air right out of the ballon.

It started 10 seconds into the game when Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby was whistled for a 2-minute boarding penalty -- and a rather questionable call, in my opinion, too -- and continued about 20 seconds later when forward Matt Cooke also was called for a high-sticking infraction.

Unfortunately, the Penguins couldn't even touch the puck to stop the action after Cooke's penalty before Habs' blueliner P.K. Subban tossed a wrist shot on Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from a bad angle low in the left wing circle that Montreal forward Brian Gionta meekly deflected and somehow squeezed it by a post-hugging Fleury.

That's right ... 30 seconds into game 7 and the Canadiens were again up 1-0 on a bad break and a horrible effort by the Penguins' goaltender.

Fleury simply can't let that one in there. Plain and simple.

#29 seemed to bounce back a little over the next 10 minutes as Montreal had a few other good chances -- including one by Maxim Lapierre that hit the post -- but it turned out not to be enough when the poor puck management that has plagued the Penguins like malaria the whole series bit them in the rear again.

After Habs' rearguard Roman Hamrlik pinched in on the near boards to try and keep the puck in the zone as it was coming around, he met Pens' forward Matt Cooke. The puck obviously didn't want to be there, because when the players met, someone deflected it and it caromed up in the air out to the high slot.

No matter, I thought. Pens' defenseman Sergei Gonchar was right there. But instead of corraling it with his hand first, he tried to whack it out of the zone.

Unsuccessfully, unfortunately.

That allowed Montreal 3rd line forward Dominic Moore to approach from the left, pick up the bouncing puck, and turn and whip a wrist shot from about 45 feet that beat Fleury low to the far post from the inner edge of the top of the right circle.

That 2-0 lead carried into the second period and, while unsettling, didn't put the Penguins out of the game.

But what happened next basically did.

3 minutes into the 2nd frame, Chris Kunitz somehow ended up being the last man back with the puck on his stick in the Penguins zone. When he moved up on the breakout and tried to get the puck out, Habs' forward Andrei Kostitsyn deflected his passing attempt. Montreal beat Pittsburgh to the lose biscuit and, in a nightmare I could see unfolding in slow motion, Tomas Plekanec got the puck to a wide open Mike Cammalleri in shooting position to the right of the slot. He beat Fleury easily for his league leading 12th playoff goal and a 3-0 lead.

That was bad. Unfortunately, it got worse. Quickly.

With the Penguins on the power play just 2 minutes later, Kunitz again showed awful puck management when he attempted to pass the biscuit back to Gonchar at the point in Montreal's zone, but watched as Canadiens' LW Travis Moen easily interecepted it. Things seemed innocuous enough at the time as Moen was shorthanded and not in any apparent urgency on his rush up the ice.

Moen then ossed the puck behind Sarge over the Penguins blueline and went to chase it. Gonchar eased up on the play -- and he's taking a lot of unjustified heat for that in my opinion, since he did what he should have done on the play, which was run slight interference so defense partner Kris Letang can come in from the opposite side to get that puck.

But Letang was late getting there and Moen got to the bouncing puck first. When he did, he wristed a shot from around the left dot that again beat Fleury to the far side for a 4-0 Habs' advantage.

Stunned doesn't begin to describe what I was thinking and feeling at that point.

Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma had to feel the same way because that's when he decided to yank Fleury -- the defending Stanley Cup champion goaltender with all the game 7/elimination/bounceback statistics I laid out yesterday -- in favor of backup Brent Johnson.

When your starting goaltender has a history of stepping up in big games, but gets chased in game 7, you know you're in a predicament.

To some credit, the Penguins didn't wilt. Kunitz helped make up for at least one of his previous aggregious mistakes when he scored at the 8 minute mark of that period after getting a fortunate bounce off the referree's skate and whipping the puck past Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak.

Notice I haven't mentioned Halak yet?

Exactly.

Jordan Staal kept Pittsburgh in the game by deflecting the Pens' second goal past Halak at the 16 minute mark of the second and then, when Montreal took a penalty with 9 seconds left in the frame that left them 4-on-3, the Penguins had their chance early in the 3rd to really make things interesting.

Unfortunately, they failed on that man-advantage chance -- and two others in the 3rd period -- when they really needed to score. And that was largely accountable to Halak's work in that final frame.

The Montreal netminder stopped several prime, grade-A scoring chances in that period -- including opportunities from both Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (notice we haven't mentioned his name yet either ....... uh huh) -- and, despite how solid he was in pretty much the whole series, might have played his best 20 minutes of it in the 3rd last night.

After failing to convert on those chances -- and not hitting the net on other glorious opportunities, including one from Letang that comes to mind -- there was no other possible result but to let Montreal finish things with a power play goal of their own by Gionta, who deftly tipped a cross-crease, flip pass right out of the air past Johnson at the 10 minute mark for a 5-2 final.

And so, after another contest playing to script with the Penguins outshooting the Canadiens by almost 2-1, outhitting them by a large margin, and watching Montreal block 26 shots to the Pens' 3, it was over.

Just like that.

No more hockey this year.

No more hockey ever at Mellon Arena.

Like I said, the Penguins deserved their fate in this series. Pittsburgh could have gotten more contributions from several players, but in the end, they are making golf reservations this morning and mourning a bitter end to hockey at The Igloo because their stars simply didn't get it done.

When Crosby and Malkin combine to have only one ... ONE ... even strength POINT in the whole 7-game series, the Penguins aren't going to win.

When Fleury plays as unevenly and inconsistently as he did in this series, letting up multiple early goals and several soft ones along the way, the Penguins aren't going to win.

When the opponent's best player scores more goals in the series than your top 5 forwards COMBINED -- including two of the world's best players -- the Penguins aren't going to win.

Considering all that, the fact that the Penguins were even in a position on their home ice to advance shows how much of a better team they are than a Canadiens outfit that I said eariler in the series didn't belong on the same ice as Pittsburgh.

I stand by that. The Habs won this series by one game. While there's no question Montreal deserves a lot of credit for sticking with their system, playing sound team defense, getting strong goaltending, and scoring opportunistic goals almost every chance they got, they played at their peak almost all series.

The Pengins did not.

If both teams play at their peak, it's not even close.

BUT, that's why they play. And why the failure of the Penguins' big guns to get it done in this series is the single biggest reason why the Habs defeated Pittsburgh.

So a long, disappointing offseason now begins in earnest for the city who is no longer the official home of the Stanley Cup champions.

Ugh.

I'll have more post-mortem in the days to come. AND, even though it's officially the offseason in Penguin nation at this point, there will be plenty worth coming back to this space for on a regular basis --- including my end-of-season player grades, a look at what the Penguins may do in the draft, and an examination of what the Penguins are facing heading into free agency on July 1, and a lot more.

It should be an interesting next 6-8 weeks.

For now, depression prevails.

Penguins Go Back To The Schoolyard Tonight For Game 7 Against Montreal

As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to face-off tonight against the Montreal Canadiens in game 7 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series at what could be the last game ever in the venerable Mellon Arena (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS, FSN PITTSBURGH), I have a little bit of everything for my readers today.

Fantasy and Reality.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.

A hockey season in the balance.

Tonight will be the 12th game 7 in Pittsbugh Penguins' history. The good news?

The Penguins are 7-4 in those games, including 7-2 in the last 9.

The bad news?

All 4 of those losses came at home, and the two most recent game 7 forays in The Igloo both were big upsets -- as tonight's would be if Montreal manages to win -- first in 1993 when arguably the greatest team in Penguins' history looking for a 3-peat fell in overtime to the New York Islanders and David Volek, and then in 1996 when a third period blueline slapshot from current Penguins' Asssistant to the GM Tom Fitzgerald and the Florida Panthers did in the Penguins.

Undoubtedly, for the Penguins to win tonight, their stars have to be stars.

That starts with the Pens' netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury has yet to string together two strong performances in these playoffs and, after a sub-par game 6, he'll be looking to do what he does best tonight: bounce back after a loss.

This year, Fleury is 4-0 with a 1.14 GAA, a SV % of 95.5, and 1 shutout after a defeat the prior game.

He also tends to be good in elimination games in his career, going 4-2, with a 1.91 GAA and a SV % of 93.

When those games are a game 7, his numbers are 2-0, with a 1.50 GAA, and SV % of 93.3.

Oh yeah. He also has that Stanley Cup thing to his name in game 7 elimination contests.

Beyond Fleury, the Penguins need production from Evgeni Malkin tonight, particularly at even-strength, where the Penguins haven't scored at Montreal's pace in this series.

Malkin has been playing better lately, showing puck control and dominance in the offensive zone, but Pittsburgh needs him to put points on the board. He simply has to bear down and find a way to get the puck in the net, or get it to someone who does.

Finally, how the defending Stanley Cup Champions do tonight may ultimately come down to the performance of their Captain, Sidney Crosby.

I don't have to detail here Crosby's historical performance when everything is on the line. He raises his game, like the best players in the world do when the chips are down. He had fire in his eyes at the close of game 6 while chirping with several Canadiens' players and, even though he's been quiet in this series and probably will have to contend with Habs' blueliner Hal Gill back in the lineup again tonight, it wouldn't shock me or anyone if Crosby dominates game 7.

Remember, Crosby sat out a large part of his last game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals last year against Detroit, so it's probably fair to say he's quite anxious to make an impact for his team in this one.

Just thinking about his will and heart gets my blood going.

While Gill will probably return for the Canadiens this evening, it's unlikely that fellow rearguard Andre Markov, who tore his ACL in game one, will play. And that's true despite the fact that he's started to skate a little bit with a brace. Markov would still probably be more of a liability for Montreal at this juncture.

Expect no other lineup changes for the Habs.

The Penguins will probably go with the same lineup tonight too, and that includes keeping defensemen Alex Goligoski and Jordan Leopold -- who both had a difficult game 6 -- in the lineup, and blueliner Jay McKee in the press box.

And so, after 6 hard games where every inch of ice has been contested ... where there have been superlative individual performances .. where we've seen miraculous comebacks from injury .. where the teams have found exhilarating momentum shifts ... where each club has failed to gain any real series advantage over the other ... one thing shines through with crystal clarity.

None of it matters.

Not the Penguins' success on the power play.

Not the Canadiens' containing Crosby.

Not Marc-Andre Fleury's up-and-down performance.

Not Mike Cammalleri's record goal-scoring pace.

Nothing.

All of that might as well be fantasy at this point.

The reality is that game 7 is a fresh slate, and that anything and everything can happen in a single, series-deciding contest. And often it's the unsung heros who make the difference.

Ask Pens' forward Max Talbot about that.

Or ask former Pittsburgh defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, who may have scored the most unlikely game winning game 7 tally in team history when he beat legend and Hall of Fame netminder Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres for an overtime winner in this very same 2nd round in 2001.

Said then-teammate and current Pens' professional scout Kevin Stevens of Kasparaitis' unlikely goal, in one of the greatest quotes of all time after the game:

"I haven't seen him score a goal in practice since I've been here."

No matter how it goes down, the Penguins have to leave everything on the ice, and I think they will. They are great at turning the page and bouncing back from defeats, and despite facing a lot of pressure as the clear favorite in this series, they have the experience and big-game focus to handle the challenge in game 7 tonight. If they can go into Detroit and become the first team in professional sports to win a game 7 on the road for a championship in nearly 4 decades, they are well-equipped to embrace --rather than be intimidated by -- the stakes tonight.

Which leaves only one thing.

B - E - L - I - E - V - E !

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!

SACRE BLEU! Canadiens Force Game 7

Hockey Hall-of-Fame writer Dave Molinari's piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday highlighted the many educational pedigrees which dot the players on the Pittsburgh Penguins' playoff roster.

From Harvard to Notre Dame to Boston College, the Penguins can't claim a lack of knowledge in their dressing room.

I wonder whether any of those degrees are in mathematics, because after the resilient Montreal Canadiens' 4-3 game 6 victory last night at The Bell Centre, there's going to be a lot of talk about numbers in the next few days.

Specifically, numbers which attempt to quantify who's going to finally close out this series in game 7 now that it's even again for the final time.

Like how the Penguins have won their last several game 7's, and Montreal won their last one -- in the first round.

Like how no team has more series victories after being down 3-2 than the Canadiens.

Like how the Penguins have yet to lose back-to-back games this post-season, and have a 10-2 record in those situations dating back through their last 6 playoff rounds.

Like how no team in National Hockey League history has ever defeated the #1 seed in the first round as a #8 seed, then gone on to win in the second round.

Like how the Montreal Canadiens played in the first game in the history of the now-Mellon Arena and now have the chance to play in the last.

The Penguins, of course, would rather not have to go back to school, but since just about every one of Montreal's victories in this series followed the same script, they certainly can't say they're surprised to have to.

Once again, Pittsburgh controlled the play and outshot Montreal by a commanding margin -- this time 37-25.

Once again, they had several decent scoring chances, but hit 3 posts and weren't otherwise able to get the puck by Canadiens' netminder Jaroslav Halak when they needed to most.

Once again, their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, gave them an uneven performance and wasn't able to shut the door on the incredibly opportunitstic Habs.

Sound familiar?

And it started off early last night again, just like it did in game 4 -- the last time the teams met in Montreal.

Pens' rearguard Kris Letang turned the puck over in the neutral zone early in the first period, leading to a 2-on-1 rush for the Canadiens, and it only took seconds before Montreal forward Mike Cammalleri wristed one by Fleury's glove hand from about 45 feet to give the Habs a 1-0 lead.

While I'm not going to completely hold Fleury's feet to the fire for that one, I felt he could have had it. The pass from Tomas Plekanec to Cammalleri traveled only about 5 feet, so he didn't have to move much, and he has to know that Cammalleri is going to be the trigger man in that situation.

Fortunately, the Penguins countered quickly, with Captain and center Sidney Crosby knocking a puck out of mid-air and in about 6 minutes later, and then added to that lead early in the second frame when Letang atoned for his first period gaffe by taking a pass from Crosby on a rush while on the man-advantage, walking down the slot, faking a pass, and just wristing it off Halak and under his arm to make it 2-1 Pittsburgh.

Like in game 4, however, the Penguins couldn't hold that lead.

Cammalleri scored again to tie the score, this time finishing off a 3-on-3 Canadiens' rush by escaping the coverage of Penguins' backchecker Max Talbot and tossing a nice backhand off the far post and past Fleury for his league-leading 11th of the post-season.

I'm trying not to be too critical of Fleury here but again, I think he was moving across the crease a little too quickly, and I believe it took him slightly out of position. Cammalleri didn't have many options since he was on the backhand and Talbot was fast approaching him. Like I said -- a good shot by #13, but a little more body control there and Fleury might have had it.

Think the Penguins need to do more to contain Cammalleri? Uh, yeah.

When defenseman Jaroslav Spacek -- playing his first game in 3 weeks in place of scratched Habs' blueliner Hal Gill -- scored on a seeing-eye, ice-level slapshot just under 3 minutes later to give Montreal a 3-2 lead before the period ended, the Canadiens' fans just about lost their minds.

Which, not coincidentally, is what happened to me at the 11 minute mark of the 3rd period when Montreal 4th liner Maxim Lapierre beat defenseman Alex Goligoski down low in the Pittsburgh zone, cut right out in front of Fleury unmolested while the Pens' Selke Trophy finalist Jordan Staal just basically watched him go by, then beat #29 with a backhander to the far post from about 5 feet away that Fleury just didn't track well moving across the crease.

That goal gave Montreal a 4-2 lead and proved to be the game winner when Pens' RW Bill Guerin tipped a Sergei Gonchar slapper past Halak with about 80 seconds left in the game.

Of course, that only served to make the score more interesting. It certainly didn't do anything to lessen the pressure which, now, is squarely on the local hockey club for Wednesday night's winner-take-all affair @ The Igloo.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens will come into that one with confidence -- and house money, since nobody expected them to take the Penguins to the brink after overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the league's President's Trophy winner in the opening round. Even if they lose, their year will be considered successful.

For the Penguins to satisfy their season appetites, they need to show themselves, their fans and the hockey world why they are the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

I'd rather them not be in that position, but now that they are, there's only one thing to do.

B - E - L - I - E - V - E

Game 7 preview tomorrow.

It's Dial-A-Defenseman For Montreal As Pittsburgh Looks To Do What They Do Best In Game 6

After a game 5 victory on Saturday night at Mellon Arena that upped the post-season record of the Pittsburgh Penguins under Head Coach Dan Bylsma to 10-2 after a loss, the Boys of Winter traveled to Montreal yesterday as they prepared for their chance to close out the Habs in game 6 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal tonight at The Bell Centre (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS, FSN PITTSBURGH).

Certainly, the crowd in Montreal this evening is bound to be loud and hostile to the visitors, but if it's one thing the Penguins have down at this point, it's closing out a series on the road.

In fact, they have yet to close one out at home under Bylsma, instead winning all 5 playoff series' under him away from home, including the first round this year against the Ottawa Senators in game 6.

Given the mostly complete game he saw from his team in game 5 Saturday night, expect Bylsma to stick with the same lineup tonight. That means no Ruslan Fedotenko or Alexei Ponikarovsky.

For Montreal, there is anything but certainty as to who is going to suit up for them -- particularly on the blue line.

Defenseman Hal Gill returned to Montreal yesterday from Pittsburgh, one day after staying in Pittsburgh overnight for observation of a cut he sustained on the back of his leg after Pens' LW Chris Kunitz inadvertently stepped on it with one of his skate blades Saturday night.

Sources have provided varying reports about Gill's availability for tonight's game and, while anything is possible in the post-season, it appears that Gill has maybe a 35% chance of suiting up.

If he doesn't go, his most likely replacement would be Jaroslav Spacek, who has been out since game 3 or 4 of Montreal's first round series against Washington with a condition -- believed to be Vertigo -- that was affecting his balance. Spacek has been cleared by Montreal's medical staff to play, but as I understand it, he's yet to take in a full practice with all of his teammates and instead only skated with small groups of other injured players or taxi-squad members.

If Spacek goes, he can bring a good two-way stability to Montreal's blueline, but there has to be a question as to how quickly he could acclimate to getting back into the lineup in the middle of a highly-contested series with everything on the line after not playing for about 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, the Habs saw defensemen Andrei Markov and Paul Mara skate lightly yesterday, as well. Mara has been out since early April after sustaining what was thought to be a season-ending shoulder injury, while everyone following this series knows that Markov left game 1 after suffering a torn ACL on a crushing -- but legal -- hit by Pens' forward Matt Cooke.

Despite skating briefly yesterday, Mara isn't believed to be close to playing yet and, while Markov is still considered out indefinitely, word has been circulating that the Canadiens are trying to find him a proper brace that could support his knee enough to allow him to try to go.

Players have played with a torn ACL before, but needless to say, if Markov suits up in that condition, his mobility would be severely limited.

Personally, I don't expect to see Markov back in the lineup tonight. As I mentioned, Spacek is the most likely play.

Lineup changes aside, it goes without saying that it's incumbent on the Penguins to match Montreal's intensity tonight. The Habs were in the same situation in round 1 against the Capitals, so it won't be unfamiliar to them. Pittsburgh will need to show the same urgency the Canadiens surely will, and do everything they can to close out the Habs in game 6 tonight. The last thing they want is to leave things to an anything-can-happen game 7.

As usual, things for Pittsburgh are likely to come down to their players down the middle.

If Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury can give them another good game (which he's been generally putting together lately), if Captain Sidney Crosby can get something going without having to see Gill opposite him on the Montreal blueline, and if Malkin continues the dominance he showed in game 5, I like the Penguins' chances. Even if -- as is often the case in big games -- the role players are often the hero in the end.

Hey -- as long as the guys in the white jerseys are celebrating afterwards, that's all that matters.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!

Penguins Blast Their Way To 2-1 Game 5 Victory, 3-2 Series Lead

As the Pittsburgh Penguins entered game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal last night at Mellon Arena, there were no secrets about how their opponent -- the Montreal Canadiens -- likes to play defense.

Their plan is pretty simple: Throw a blanket around Penguins' Captain and superstar Sidney Crosby, and then throw a forcefield around the 10 feet surrounding their netminder, Jaroslav Halak.

While Crosby again struggled to break out in game 5 last night, the Penguins took advantage of the continually collapsing Montreal defense by winning 2-1 on the strength of two rocket goals from the point in the first and second periods by defenseman Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar.

Those two goals and some stellar work between the pipes by Marc-Andre Fleury in a game where the Canadiens suprisingly outshot -- but not outplayed -- Pittsburgh, combined to give the Penguins a home victory in front of a raucous crowd and put them one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Final for the third straight year.

Fleury was sharp early last night and held up his bargain all evening long, stopping 32 of 33 shots and only allowing a late power play goal to the Canadiens' Mike Cammalleri with 30 seconds left in the game on a puck that just squirted between his legs and across the line during a scrum around the net.

Otherwise, the flower bloomed for the second time in the last three games and earned the contest's #1 star.

While Crosby was bottled up again last night and now has gone a career-high six straight playoff games without a goal dating back to the Pens' first round series against the Ottawa Senators, his other superstar teammate, Evgeni Malkin, might have had his best game of the series.

Geno was dominant throughout game 5, skating with authority, controlling the puck at-will, and creating numerous scoring chances. His work down low in the first period led the Canadiens to pack around their netminder like sardines, which left Letang wide open at the point and led directly to his opening goal. Malkin also had about 3 or 4 grade "A" opportunites for goals of his own.

Another factor in Tanger's opening tally was RW Bill Guerin, who returned to the lineup last night after missing games 3 and 4 with an elbow problem, and deftly provided a screen in front of Halak on the play.

Not coincidentally, Guerin's teammate who also returned last night after missing game 4 with 'a bug' -- Mike Rupp -- did the same on Gonchar's goal in the second period.

And while I'm talking about Sarge's tally, a little shout-out is warranted for the guy who got the second assist on the play, center Mark Letestu. Letestu -- who centered the 4th line last night -- was real solid all over the ice last night in his second game of this series and I've been very pleased with what the Penguins have been getting from him.

AND, the fact that Pittsburgh Head Coach Dan Bylsma kept Letetsu in the lineup last night and instead scratched not only Ruslan Fedotenko -- who Bylsma has long been unsatisfied with -- but also trade deadline aquisition Alexei Ponikarovsky, says everything you need to know about how the call-up has exceeded expecatiations when on the ice.

Another notable development from last night's contest was that the Canadiens' 757 on the blueline -- rearguard Hal Gill -- left the game early in the third period after Pens' LW Chris Kunitz inadvertently stepped on the back of his leg near the knee. Gill is believed to have sustained a laceration on the play, did not return and was even said to not fly home with his teammates to Montreal last night, instead remaining in Pittsburgh for treatment.

If Gill can't go for game 6, an already depleted Montreal blueline is going to be that much thinner in a game where his team faces elimination by a club looking to close out its sixth straight series on the road dating back to last year.

More tomorrow as I preview that game 6.

Who Will Be Ready To Close Out The Series After Game 5?

As the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens ready for a huge game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series tonight at Mellon Arena (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS) one thing is undoubtedly certan.

After tonight, one team will be poised to close out this series in six games.

Who that team is and who's in the best position to do that, however, remains anything but.

In a tennis-like back-and-forth feel, it would appear that this series currently favors the Habs.

After all, nobody expected them to defeat the league-leading Washington Capitals in the first round, and certainly, nobody expected them to have things even with the Penguins after 4 games.

But Les Habitants are playing good team defense, scoring opportune goals, and getting very solid goaltending from Jaroslav Halak.

Meanwhile, the Penguins are being outscored 5-on-5 in this series and, despite dominating significant stretches of play in this series, haven't done better than draw even with the Habs where it matters most -- winning.

Beyond those small details, Montreal is coming off a big game 4 win behind their home crowd, so they have momentum going on the road -- where they've played well, and the Penguins, at Mellon Arena, have not been nearly as intimidating.

Moreover, the Canadiens have done a good job limiting the production of both of the Penguins' top players, centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, both of whom are still -- incredibly -- looking for their first even strength point of this series.

But all that aside, the confidence of at least one person in the Penguins isn't shaken.

Who's that, you say?

Me.

The Penguins have gone through a lot the last several seasons and are not easily rattled. They are used to being in tight series'. And winning them when things look bleak.

Pittsburgh also has an extremely strong resolve. They know what to do when challenges arise, and don't blink in the face of them.

Becoming the first road team in almost 40 years to win a game 7 on the road in any sport will do that to a group.

Tonight's game undoubtedly has significant implications on the rest of the series, and will go a long way to determining whether Montreal pulls off another immense playoff upset this year, or is just another example of the character we have all seen regularly in Pittsburgh when the chips are down.

I, for one, am going to be in the building tonight, looking forward to seeing the Boys of Winter do what they do best.

Play like the champions they are.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!


NOTES:

It is believed that RW Bill Guerin will return to the lineup tonight after missing games 3 and 4 of the series with what is believed to be an infected elbow. It's also possible that forward Mike Rupp, who missed game 4 with a 'non-hockey-related' injury, may also return. If one or both get back in the lineup tonight, look for forwards Ruslan Fedotenko and/or -- perhaps -- even Alexei Ponikarovsky to go to the press box. If Poni is a healthy scratch, it would be a starting, but not entirely unjustifiable, tumble for GM Ray Shero's marquee trade deadline aquisition, who has only 3 goals since joining the team in March and hasn't performed even close to capably while playing alongside one of the league's best centers in Malkin.

Canadiens Stifle Penguins; Catch Final Lightning In A Bottle To Win Game 4, 3-2, Tie Series

NHL playoff games are often won in brief moments of a game, either by sheer acts of brilliance or fortuitous luck. Sometimes both.

When a team is able to strike quickly and capture lightning in a bottle, it can make all the difference, especially in a close game.

And so it was last night in game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins at The Bell Centre in Montreal.

After an awful early squeaker against netminder Marc-Andre Fleury by Canadiens 4th liner Tom Pyatt, Pittsburgh rapidly rebounded by catching some of that lightning and scoring 2 goals -- one on a breakaway by Max Talbot and another on a fluke bounce off LW Chris Kunitz to lead 2-1 after the first.

When that advantage held entering the 3rd period, the Penguins were in a great position to put a stranglehold on this series.

Until Pittsburgh got burned by the same lightning.

The Canadiens controlled the play in the final frame, and were rewarded for it, first when Montreal 4th liner Maxim Lapierre scored on a wraparound, and then, less than 2 minutes later, when Habs' RW Brian Gionta got credit for a goal on a cross-slot centering pass that went off of the skate of Pens' defenseman Kris Letang and past Fleury for a 3-2 lead.

That break basically wiped out the fortunate bounce the Penguins got in the first period on Kunitz's goal.

And then, for the next 15 minutes or so, the Canadiens parlayed their successful efforts at holding the fort into a game 4 win and a 2-2 series tie.

So much for that stranglehold.

Game 5 is Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins have continued to struggle to generate offense at even-strength in this series, and a lot of that resonates in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- who both failed to register an even strength point last night.

Malkin was kept of the scoreboard altogether.

If those two don't find a way to break through the fortress that the Canadiens habitually put up in front of their goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, this series could go the distance.

And we all know what can happen in 7th games.

On the bright side, the Penguins dominated for the first two periods last night, and outshot Montreal 35-25. Jordan Staal incredibly returned following foot surgery after missing 2 games and did not look out of place.

Still, Montreal is not going down easy in this series, and after losing their first road contest of the playoffs last night, the Penguins will have to up both the ante and their intensity at home in the next game if they want to take over this series.

More over the weekend.

Could Jordan Staal Incredibly Return In Game 4 Tonight?

As the Pittsburgh Penguins prepared on their off-day yesterday for tonight's game 4 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against the Montreal Canadiens at The Bell Centre (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS), there was mostly a singular story worth tracking.

Just 4 days after having a foot tendon sliced in a freak accident -- and facing the prospect of his season ending prematurely as a result -- there was Pittsburgh center and Selke Trophy finalist Jordan Staal fully participating in the Penguins' one-hour optional skate yesterday morning, and readying himself for a miraculous possible return in this series, perhaps as early as game 4 tonight.

This, after skating for the first time for 5-10 minutes the day before, just 3 days after the accident last Friday and resulting surgery the same night.

Whoever said that Penguins' head coach Dan Bylsma -- who defied common belief the day after the injury when he said Staal was day-to-day -- enjoys misleading the media on the status of his players?

In Staal's case, he may have actually been telling the real story.

Of course, NHL playoff history is littered with courageous instances of players playing through significant injuries, but Staal's return to the ice after his meaningful injury has been nothing short of stunning. Strangely enough, though -- to hear him tell it -- dealing with his injury was hardly different than cutting his finger back on his family's sod farm in Ontario:

"I went straight to the hospital, had a little surgery, went home, and had a good sleep," Staal said yesterday.

Here are some other pieces on Staal's potential return:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10126/1055971-61.stm

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Surgery+stop+ironman+Staal/2992907/story.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=5166411

Needless to say, getting Staal back in the lineup as early as tonight would be a major boost to a team that could put a strangehold on it's series with the Canadiens by winning tonight.

While Montreal overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat the powerhouse top-seeded Washington Capitals in the first round, they would have to make NHL history by doing it in consecutive playoff rounds, so expecting that result is probably unlikely. And that should make the Habs a dangerous, focused opponent tonight.

For their part, the Penguins will need to match that intensity -- that want-to. They've been such a strong team on the road this year, so they certainly won't retreat from the challenge. And if this is the game that Sidney Crosby ramps up his offensive production in this series, Montreal is going to have their hands full.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!


NOTES:

Bylsma continued to be mum about the status of RW Bill Guerin -- who missed game 3 on Tuesday night -- saying that he may or may not take the morning skate today, and would again be a game-time decision for game 4. Bylsma has stayed pretty tight-lipped about the nature of Guerin's problem, but the talk circulating is that he may just be ill. I don't really buy that, and from what I know, he's more likely to have suffered a recurrence of the occasional back spasms he's suffered from over the last few months.

Fleury, Malkin Deliver Penguins 2-0 Shutout Victory In Game 3

Who said Penguins' players don't read my blog?

For several days in this space, I have spoken of the need for the Pittsburgh Penguins to get better performances from center Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and many others in the media have sent out the same call.

And so, what happened last night in game 3 of the Eastern Conference Seminfinal between the Penguins and Montreal Canadiens?

In front of more than 21,000 outrageous, screaming fans, Malkin scored the game-winning goal early in the third period and Fleury pitched the first playoff shutout for a visiting team in Montreal in 28 seasons, stopping 18 shots as the Pens won 2-0 and took a 2-1 series lead over Les Habitants

Not surprisingly, last night's contest was all Montreal at the outset.

The Canadiens probably played their best period of the series in the first, capitalizing on the energy that their home crowd provided them, and allowing Pittsburgh only 3 shots on goal.

BUT, after missing a few chances and Fleury coming up with some stops, all the Canadiens had to show for it was 7 shots and a 0-0 score heading into the intermission.

Once the Penguins did a good job of weathering that expected storm, they came out and dominated the second period, outshooting the Habs 13-3. They, too, however, had nothing to show for it, as Montreal netminder Jaroslav Halak kept his team in the game with several strong saves, including one on Pens' rearguard Alex Goligoski.

The momentum turned as the period wound down, however, with Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby doggedly forcing Canadiens' defenseman Hal Gill to take a holding penalty with 6 seconds left in the frame.

Then, as time ended in the period, a scrum that ensued resulted in coincidental minor penalties to Pens' blueliner Kris Letang and Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges.

That left the Canadiens without their two best penalty killers to start the third period, and Pittsburgh took advantage when Malkin ripped a slapshot from the top of the left circle past Halak to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead 1:16 into the frame.

While the goal was vintage Malkin, a lot of other subtle things helped the Pens' get that tally, including the 2-man screen in front of Halak by Crosby and LW Chris Kunitz, as well as some deft work at the center point by quarterback Sergei Gonchar.

Gonchar is so smooth and smart back there. He's excellent with the slight look offs, body movement and different positioning that opens up shooting and passing lanes, and freezes netminders and defenders who are unsure of what he's going to do next.

After Malkin took his time in the spotlight, it was Fleury's turn.

The native of Quebec made two of his best stops of the post-season in the third period, robbing Montreal RW Mike Cammelleri with the left pad after sliding post-to-post across the crease, then using his right pad to extend and stop a re-direct from low in the slot by Habs' forward Tomas Plekanec while his team was down a man with about 3 minutes to go.

Both were vintage saves, and represented Fleury doing what he does best -- shutting the door when it means the most.

"It was a pretty big performance from him tonight," said Penguins' coach Dan Bylsma.

"We're really lucky to have him," Crosby said. "We wouldn't have gotten a win without the way he played."

And they aren't the only ones who feel that way:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=5163473

Once LW Pascal Dupuis -- playing on the top line last night because RW Bill Guerin was a late scratch due to back spasms -- scored into an empty net, the Canadiens were finished.

And so, after their win last night, the Pens' are now 4-0 on the road in this post-season, and carry a deserved 2-1 lead into game 4.

The best part is, they still can improve.

Malkin, though, may have been the best forward for the Penguins last night. He had 7 shots on goal and, while Pittsburgh could still use more from him at even strength, there's no doubt he picked up the slack last night while Crosby was limited to a single shot for the second straight game in this series.

Where the Penguins were pretty good overall last night was in the neutral zone. They kept Montreal at bay and Cammelleri credited their structure after the game last night as being an underrated reason for Pittsburgh's success.

He's right. Once again, the Habs were limited to only 18 shots in the game, and only 7 were registered by players not named Cammelleri or Brian Gionta.

For that matter, the Canadiens had only 10 through the first two periods, and they weren't nearly as opportunistic as they were in game 2 of this series.

Undoubtedly, Montreal continues to be limited by the absence of top rearguard Andre Markov, who TSN Canada reported yesterday has a torn ACL in his knee and is out for the post-season.

For the Penguins, however, their injury news is surprisingly more encouraging.

In a startling development, Pens' center Jordan Staal -- who had surgery just 3 days ago to repair a sliced tendon in his right foot and was thought to be perhaps lost for the playoffs -- actually skated for about 5 minutes before the team's morning skate began in Montreal yesterday.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even reported that Staal put "considerable weight" on the foot.

I saw a clip of Staal on the ice and, while I wouldn't necessarily go that far based on what I witnessed, it's unmistakable that Staal was skating and turning and shooting -- and smiling -- very well for a guy who went under the knife for just days earlier.

Needless to say, I was extremely encouraged by seeing Staal on the ice. It's certainly reasonable to think at this point he isn't at all lost for the playoffs and could very well return in the near future -- perhaps in the next round. Bylsma said it may end up being more about the degree of pain Staal can withstand with his foot in a skate.

Staal's quick return to the ice makes me wonder, though, about the full scope of his initial injury.

Now, there's no doubt that Staal had surgery, but several -- and I mean, SEVERAL -- sources reported that he completely severed the tendon as opposed to lacerating it.

After seeing him skate already, I can't help but wonder whether those reports were wrong and that he, indeed, suffered only a laceration.

But no matter. The good news is he's out on the ice again.

Let's hope the Penguins can continue that good mojo in game 4 on Thursday night, also at The Bell Centre. After all, their strong performance last night in game 3 means little if they can't take advantage and win the next one.

More later.


NOTES:

With Guerin out, Bylsma gave Mark Letetsu a chance to play in his first playoff game last night. He centered the third line with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy and acquitted himself reasonably well in about 13 minutes of ice time.

Guerin is day-to-day, by the way. The back spasms have been an occasional issue for him the last few months.

With TK playing on the third line, Bylsma moved Max Talbot up to play with Malkin on the 2nd line last night.