Penguins In The Spotlight As Lightning Come To Town

As the Pittsburgh Penguins prepare to hop back on the proverbial horse tonight and resume their NHL schedule against Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning at the CONSOL Energy Center (7:00 PM EST), the glare of the hockey world continues to focus on Pittsburgh.

Yesterday, Sidney Crosby was named the NHL's #1 star for the month of December.  Thanks to his 24 points in 13 December games -- including 8 multiple point efforts -- he was given the award over red-hot Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo and ageless Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom.

This was the second straight month the Pens' Captain earned the league's #1 star, after taking home that prize in November, too.

On top of that, we learned that the Penguins are going to take the NHL All-Star game -- this year in Raleigh, NC, home of the Carolina Hurricanes on January 30 -- by storm.

Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Penguin players were voted by the fans to play in the game -- centers Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, defenseman Kris Letang, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

"It's pretty cool that we all get to go there together," Fleury said.

Given that only the top six players in the voting were chosen, the final tally speaks volumes as to the popularity of the Penguins nationwide.

While Crosby -- the top vote getter -- was an obvious choice, the Penguins should get a lot of satisfaction from having the other 3 players selected.

That's not to say they aren't deserving; it's just that there are interesting stories behind each of the their selections.

For openers, Malkin is not really having a good year.  He battled a knee problem in the first half of the season that limited his production and, just when it looked like he was coming out of his shell, he's taken a bit of a step back the last 3 or 4 games. 

Right now, he's on pace for a career low in goals and points, and his form is a far cry from that which made him an Art Ross and Conn Smythe Trophy winner just two years ago.

Obviously, Penguin fans nationwide still support him.

Fleury, meanwhile, looked completely and totally lost to start the season.  At one point in early November, he had a 1-6 record and statistics that would embarrass a backup goaltender. 

Since that time, however, he's 16-3-2 and on pace to have career best numbers in wins, goals-against-average and save percentage.  There's a reason the Penguins went through a stretch where they didn't allow more than 2 goals in 10 straight games.  He's looked as good between the pipes in the last two months than he ever has. 

"Probably the one all-star pick that pleases me the most is his," said head coach Dan Bylsma of Fleury's selection.

Letang may just be the most incredible story of the 4, though.  Other than Crosby, Letang is probably the most deserving all-star in the group.  He's 4th in the league in points among blueliners and has the third best plus-minus among all players leaguewide. 

But what makes Letang's voting numbers so amazing is that he wasn't even on the original NHL ballot. 

That's right ... every single one of his 400,000+ votes came by way of the write-in variety, and that's something that I can't ever recall happening in 28 years of following this great game.

Of course, voting these days can take place by text message and over the internet, but the point is that you have to type his name in to choose him.

"It feels unbelievable" (to be selected), said Letang. 

Now, while Crosby, Malkin, Fleury and Letang were all selected by the fans to start the game, I'm not certain whether they're actually going to start the game.  That's typically how it works, but this year, after the league chooses the remaining all-stars, the league is going to select captains who get to pick their players among them -- sort of like a pick-up game.  While the format will be new and interesting, and probably a bit more fun, I have no clue how they will determine who starts.  Perhaps the Captains will decide that, too.  If not them, it will probably be the coaches.

Either way, kudos to those four players for being selected to represent Pittsburgh in the league's All-Star game. 

It's the first time the Penguins have had 4 players in the showcase for almost two decades.

Speaking of All-Stars, at least two players who will surely be joining Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Fleury on the ice in Raleigh will be wearing visiting uniforms tonight, with Stamkos and Martin St. Louis leading Tampa Bay into town.

The Lightning are coming off a 1-0 overtime win last night against the Washignton Capitals in DC behind the strength of 34 saves from their new goaltender, Dwayne Roloson -- acquired about 3 days ago from the New York Islanders.

While there's no word on whether the Penguins will see him between the pipes tonight, they certainly will have to deal with two of the most dangerous forwards in the league.

Stamkos has 31 goals -- one behind Crosby's 32 for the league-lead -- and is second in points behind Sid in the overall scoring race (65-56). 

Meanwhile, St. Louis has quietly risen to third place in the points race, and scored the game-winner last night to raise his team's point total to 53.

And, in case you still look down on the Lightning as a less-than-accomplished team, you should know that their point total is the same as that held by the local hockey club, and one point ahead of Washington for the Southeast Division lead.

For their part, the Penguins look to get back on track tonight after coming out on the wrong end in 3 of their last 4 games.

To do that, it appears as if their second line may have a little bit of a different look this evening.

Sure, Jordan Staal remains slated to center Malkin on that line, but if practice yesterday was any indication, they are going to be joined on by RW Tyler Kennedy, who would play his off-wing on the left side.

"He adds a disruption factor and a speed factor to a line that other guys on our team don't match," Bylsma said.  "He has speed on the forecheck, chasing pucks down, tenacity wise pursuing the puck."

While it's hard to argue with Blysma's assessment of Kennedy's game, the problem with Kennedy is that he hasn't proven the ability to consistently finish. 

One goal in his last 19 games pretty much says everything you need to know in that department. 

Now, admittedly, the Penguins don't have an overwhelming amount of clearly better options than Kennedy (Talbot?  Cooke?).  And, I won't deny that no matter who's on the other side, you count on Gronk and Geno to do most of the scoring on that line.  But TK has to do more than just skate and be tenacious.  Let's hope he can handle the puck with those guys, too. 

It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out, and see if Chris Conner continues to be a healthy scratch, as he was in the Winter Classic.

I'll have a recap tomorrow.  Before that, though, look for a piece from me later about the 3rd installment of HBO's 24/7 series which aired last week.  I know I haven't gotten anything up on that (been a bit hectic with the New Year and that Winter Classic thing), but I should have something posted before the finale of that quartet of episodes, which premiers this evening (10:00 PM EST).  After all, that's the episode that chronicled the Penguins' 3-2 shootout win over Washington on the road 2 days before Christmas, so I can't miss the opportunity to speak on that.

Thanks for reading .....