Dirty Birds Ready For Showdown With Thrashers

A little over a week ago, I wrote HERE about reports that Pittsburgh Penguins' 5th-liner Mike Comrie regularly received sext messages from his wife, actress/singer/writer Hilary Duff.

Now, it appears to some that Comrie may not be the only dirty Penguin.

In the aftermath of the Penguins' clockwork 3-1 win over the New York Rangers on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, New York forwards Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky basically accused Pens' captain Sidney Crosby of being a dirty player.

The focus of their ire was mainly a sequence about 3/4 of the way through the first period when Crosby was trying to get up the ice, only to have Callahan obstruct his progress along the way.

As Crosby was fighting to get away, he got caught up with Callahan a little bit, and his foot came through the Ranger's foot-path at the same time Crosby finally was able to successfully shrug Callahan off and toss him to the ice.

The play can be found HERE, for those who are interested.

Personally, I think it's much ado about nothing.  It's no coincidence that Callahan -- not Crosby -- got called for the penalty on the play.  In fact, Sid was only trying to get away from the type of obstruction the National Hockey League is letting slowly creep back into the game.

Most curiously, though, what both Callahan and Dubinsky had to say -- which can be found in the Ranger Rants blog HERE -- actually provoked a response from the usually straight-laced Pittsburgh Captain.

"How many penalty minutes do I have this year if I'm that dirty?" asked Crosby (and it's 15, to set the record straight).  "I mean, please.  Show me all those dirty plays."

While Canada's Newsmaker Of The Year probably doesn't need to be concerned with getting a dirty reputation around the league, one fellow Penguin who could stand to be a little more dirty -- as in dirty around the net and in the high-traffic areas -- is Evegni Malkin.

Head Coach Dan Blysma spoke out on Malkin's behalf a few days ago, indicating how good he's been playing in areas that don't always show up on the scoresheet.

"I think we'd all like to see him put up bigger numbers and have the type of season he had two seasons ago, but I see him doing a lot of things better in his game this year than last year," said Bylsma.

"There's a lot of good in his game,"

Maybe so, but all the intangibles don't justify an $8.7 million dollar annual salary, and neither does Malkin being on a pace for only 72 points this season.

The Penguins have excelled right now despite outstanding play from Malkin, and that says something about how strong they have been defensively -- and in their all-around play -- but make no mistake about it, what sets them apart as a true force is Malkin making the opposition have to concern themselves with him one shift after tracing Crosby around the ice. 

Malkin needs to get back to being the dominant player he has shown everyone can be, and to do that, he has to start going to the net more with the puck.  He needs to battle down low and score some ugly ones.  Once he gets rolling that way, he'll probably start gripping and ripping it into the net from the wing on the power play.

And tonight would be a good time for all of that to start, because the Penguins welcome into town for a 7 PM matchup at The Bird House the second hottest team in hockey, the Atlanta Thrashers.

Atlanta rides a 6-game winning streak into town tonight, bettered only by the home club's seven in a row, and they've done it on the strength of strong goaltending from Ondrej Pavelec and both leadership and scoring on the blueline from rearguards Dustin Byfuglien -- who leads all defenseman in scoring this year with 10 goals and 27 points in 25 games -- and Tobias Enstrom.

Of course, Byfuglien is a former Chicago Blackhawk from last season's Stanley Cup winning team, and another former 'Hawk, Andrew Ladd, has had a superb season for Atlanta so far, too.

Ladd leads all Thrasher forwards in scoring with 8 goals and 25 points.

The Penguins are going to have their hands full tonight, but the vibe around the team leading into this evening's game is an exciting one.  Pittsburgh is eager to match their play against another team who's at the top of their game.

It's going to be a good one.  Looking for 8 in a row, I'll have a recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!