16 + 10 = 1

The streak(s) go on.

Pittsburgh Penguins' center and Captain Sidney Crosby did it again last night at The Bird House against the New Jersey Devils.

Sid figured in on both Penguin goals -- scoring one and assisting on the other -- to extend his point streak to 16 games and, in the process, lead Pittsburgh to a 2-1 victory. 

It was the Pens' 10th consecutive win and, missing Evgeni Malkin for the second straight game with a knee injury, you-know-who led the way.

After the Penguins allowed a power play goal for the third straight game -- this time by Devils' forward Brian Rolston at just past the 14 minute mark of the first period -- Crosby took over.

His first point was a beauty, as he took a laser 50 foot pass from Pascal Dupuis while crossing the Devils' blueline. 

The puck was in his feet, but no matter -- he just calmly kicked it up to his skate while moving at about 100 MPH.

As soon as it hit his blade, he knew what he was going to do with it, and that was dish it to linemate Chris Kunitz, streaking in the opposite side and above the hash marks.

Kunitz one-timed the biscuit and blew it by Devils' netminder Johan Hedberg to tie the score.

Crosby's goal at the 12 minute mark of the 2nd period came as he quietly freed himself to Hedberg's left and scored when a loose puck came to him.

That made it 2-1 and, behind Marc-Andre Fleury's 27 other saves, was all the Penguins' needed on the night.

With the victory, and the Washington Capitals' blowing a 4-1 lead and losing last night 5-4 in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs -- who the Penguins' next play on Wednesday evening -- the Penguins now occupy the top spot in the entire National Hockey League with 40 points and a 19-8-2 record.

Their 10-game winning streak is their second longest in franchise history, now topping the 9-game streak they had in 1999.

Of course, Sid has been at the center of all of this. 

Two or three weeks ago, the talk around the league was that Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos may, all of a sudden, be the league's best player.

Uh, that didn't last long.

Now, Crosby's praises are being sang (again) from one national outlet to another.

Now, he's captured the NHL's player-of-the-month award for November, and their most recent player-of-the-week honor.

Ho-hum.

Of course, the other key to Pittsburgh's great run the last 3 weeks has been their play in their own zone, and once again, the Penguins' team defense stood tall last night. 

Now, New Jersey certainly hasn't been lighting the league on fire this season.  But they do have several skilled players.  Last night's game wasn't the Penguins' best team effort up front -- going 0-for-6 on the power-play is fairly miserable -- but they did the job in their own end once more.

While goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has turned his season around, there's a reason why he's 11-0-1 in his last 12 starts, folks.

Defense.

The Penguins simply aren't making many mistakes, and when they do, the Flower has been there.  It's a beautiful thing to see because, with their offense, they are capable of striking at any time, and those two things are a good recipe for a lot of victories.

How are things going to be when Malkin returns to the lineup and Jordan Staal comes off the injured list?

Scary for the opposition, that's how.

And certainly, that has to make former Penguin Billy Guerin proud.

Guerin formally announced his retirement from the National Hockey League yesterday and the Pittsburgh organization was honored when Guerin chose to retire officially as a Penguin.

"We were only here a short time, but my family and I developed such a deep connection to the city, the team, and the fans.  It was amazing," Guerin said yesterday in a statement.

Guerin, of course, arrived in town thanks to another trade deadline steal-of-a-deal by Pens' GM Ray Shero, this time with the New York Islanders in which the Penguins coughed up only a conditional draft pick (which ended up being a 3rd rounder) for a player who was a key component in their run to the franchise's 3rd Stanley Cup just months later.

Number 13, as everyone remembers, scored a key overtime goal in the 2nd game of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers to put them in a 2-0 series hole they never completely recovered from.

Guerin had 21 goals and 24 assists in 78 games last season -- his final one in the NHL.  After being drafted 5th overall in the 1989 draft by the Devils and suiting up with several other clubs along the way, the 4-time all-star finished his career as one of the best U.S. born players of all time, with more goals than assists (429/427) and 856 total points in 1,263 games.

Billy G and his family had a well-deserved pre-game ceremony in his honor last night before the game, in which Penguins' ownership team provided him with a jersey, a lithograph and a trip to Hawaii.

Just first-class stuff for the Penguins' organization.

Guerin's retirement was not unexpected, though, as word had leaked that he was going to walk away from the game.  In the meantime, he's been doing spot-analysis of NHL games on Versus and -- more importantly -- has been shadowing Penguins' assistant to the General Manager Tom Fitzgerald for several weeks trying to learn the business side of hockey.

If things go as planned, Pittsburgh will ultimately bring Guerin into the fold somewhere in their hockey operations department, and there's no doubt that he'd be a great addition there.

Meanwhile, the Penguins look for the lucky 11 on Wednesday.

More soon.