About two months ago, after the Pittsburgh Penguins led the Boston Bruins 4-2 before imploding in the third period at home and giving up 5 unanswered goals on the way to a come-from-ahead 7-4 defeat, they went on a pretty nice run afterwards.
In fact, a single team didn't beat them in regulation for the next 15 games over a span of six weeks -- a streak that included 12 straight wins.
After another 3rd period collapse in another home loss to Boston earlier this week, perhaps the Penguins are ready to go on another long winning streak?
If last night's 5-2 road victory against the Montreal Canadiens is any indication, that may very well be the case.
The Penguins dominated Montreal for most of last night's game, outshooting them 36-22 and looking like the Edmonton Oilers circa-1984.
Pittsburgh skated like the wind through the neutral zone all evening long and obviously made a better effort -- probably at the behest of their coach -- to get to the offensive zone quickly and often.
It all started with the Pens capitalizing on a 4-on-2 rush about 13 minutes into the first period, when Alex Goligoski zinged one top-corner, glove side past Habs' netminder Carey Price after taking a pass from LW Chris Kunitz.
After a blip on the screen in the form of goals from Canadiens' forwards Tomas Plekanec later in the first period and David Desharnais 2 minutes into the second period, Pittsburgh responded by throwing up FOUR unanswered power-play goals the rest of the way, starting with Tyler Kennedy's 7th of the year at the 4 minute mark.
TK's goal was made possible by a big offensive zone faceoff win by Jordan Staal, who cleanly go the puck back to defenseman Kris Letang at the point, and then watched as Tanger slid it to Kennedy in the right circle, whose shot beat Price under the arm short side.
Staal decided to get into the act himself about 10 seconds before the second period ended, taking a loose puck from almost the same spot where Kennedy did and beating Price in just about the same way TK did -- short side, past the arm.
It was Staal's first goal this season, and first in about 8 months.
GoGo scored his second of the game -- this time on the man-advantage -- two minutes into the third period by chipping a loose puck past Price from the crease, but all that did was give the Penguins the dreaded two-goal lead they coughed up Monday night against the Bruins.
This time, however, Pittsburgh finished the job when Kunitz deflected a Letang shot past Price at the 11 and 1/2 minute mark, which is where the game finished at 5-2, cuing Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to have a little fun by crossing his arms like the Bell Center was his house before being mobbed by his teammates.
For those who didn't notice, that's exactly what Price did after the Canadiens' shootout victory over the Penguins last week.
Clearly, Pittsburgh didn't get Price's best game last night, and Montreal also was missing Mike Camalleri in the contest (who sat out with the flu), but they'll get no sympathy from me since the Pens didn't have that Crosby guy in their lineup.
However, they did have Staal (1 goal, 2 assists), Goligoski (2 goals, 1 assist) and Letang (3 assists), and those were the three guys who drove Pittsburgh's offense.
While he's still been inconsistent at times, GoGo showed he has a wealth of offensive ability out there. He moves and shoots the puck extremely smoothly, and in a track meet like last night, those skills come to the forefront.
Tanger, meanwhile, has been leading the charge offensively from the blueline most of the season. His three points gave him 40 on the year and raised him up to within one of Detroit Red Wings' defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Atlanta Thrashers' rearguard Dustin Byfuglien for the lead among blueliner scoring league-wide. He's also an impressive +20 on the season.
Finally, for Staal's part, well .... I think everyone would agree that it was nice to see him contribute. He hadn't scored a single point since his return as he's been shaking the rust of his game, but he showed what kind of impact he can have last night when he gets things going.
With Crosby out of the lineup, Pittsburgh is going to need guys like him and Malkin to step up and lead the team offensively.
While I'm talking about Geno, I have to say that he had a solid overall game last night, too. Still, no matter how many shots or scoring chances Malkin generates, he's still struggling to put up points, and that's something he HAS to find a way to do if Pittsburgh is going to have any long-term success.
Pittsburgh gets its second chance for revenge Saturday afternoon when it visits Beantown for a rematch against the Bruins at 1:00 PM.
Way to go boys ...
More soon.
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