First of all, sorry for my mini-hiatus the last few days. That's what a severely sprained ankle will do to you.
The good news is that positive things have been happening in Penguin-land during my absence.
While the Pens' Captain, Sidney Crosby, continues to miss time with post-concussion syndrome and just yesterday was dragged into a controversy about how -- according to the Toronto Globe and Mail, anyway -- he intended to skip the NHL's All-Star game on purpose to express his displeasure with the league's failure to discipline the players who concussed him (more on that later), his teammates have picked up their bootstraps in his absence and, following wins over the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon and the Detroit Red Wings last night at The Bird House, have now won 3 straight.
Center Jordan Staal and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury have been going a lot of the heavy lifting recently, and the last two victories were no different.
After tallying 3 points and his first goal of the season last week in Montreal during a victory over the Canadiens, Gronk kept it going on Saturday with the game-winning goal in the third period (and an assist), and the opening tally to get the Pens' going last night against Detroit.
#11 now has 6 points in his last three games and, after being reunited with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy, is dominating in all three zones right now.
As I've said in this space before, it's going to be extremely interesting to see whether Head Coach Dan Bylsma keeps that trio together when Crosby returns. While the plan has always been to play Staal and Malkin together at that point, #11, #24 and #48 are playing so well right now that it may be hard to separate them.
In the end, the Penguins may just stick to the 3-center model that has been their staple the last several seasons. That may be best for the team even if it comes at the expense of getting Evgeni Malkin going and instead leaving him with little to pick from for linemates because the team is winning, and if they are, why change it? Geno has been struggling some all season anyway -- as he did last year -- so breaking up the Gronk unit just to stick to a "plan" or try to get Malkin in a groove again may be more detrimental to the team than good.
For his part, Fleury has been even better the last few games than he has been over the last few months, and that's saying something.
He stopped 20 third period shots to make Staal's game winner stand up against the Bruins, and in the process, helped the Penguins avoid blowing their third 2-goal lead against Boston in the same number of games this season. Sure, after early goals by Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis, the Bruins did their damage to tie the game in a 12-second span in the second period, but obviously the Flower had enough after that, slamming the door in the final 20 minutes.
And he picked up from where he left off in that one last night against the Red Wings, stopping 36 of 37 shots and looking sharp from start to finish.
Last night's game had an interesting feel, with the Penguins minus Crosby and Detroit missing a litany of top players, including Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom, and #1 goaltender Jimmy Howard.
That said, take nothing away from Pittsburgh last night. They took advantage of their chances and made the Red Wings pay, and that was evident just a few minutes into the game when Tyler Kennedy stole the puck from Detroit 3rd string goaltender Joey McDonald behind the net and fed it out in front for Staal to have an easy, open-net tap-in.
Pittsburgh continued rolling after that. Just a few minutes later, Chris Conner was stopped on a near breakaway when he was checked by a Detroit player at the last minute and rendered unable to get off a shot before crashing into McDonald.
There was a fair question as to whether a penalty (if not a penalty shot) should have been awarded on the play, but there was no such question when Conner had a similar chance just past the halfway mark of the first period and was hooked from behind just as he was in the clear and about to shoot.
Conner got the penalty shot call that time mand ade no mistake on the opportunity, burying the puck between McDonald's legs on a backhand deke for the first penalty shot goal scored by a Penguin player in the last 12 tries dating back to January, 2007, when former Pen Jarkko Ruutu did the trick.
While both of those goals were big, Chris Kunitz' tally late in the 2nd frame may have been the biggest.
Johan Franzen had just scored for Detroit to make the game 2-1, and the Red Wings were getting momentum, but when #14 scored on a rebound to restore Pittsburgh's 2 goal lead, the Pens had their equilibrium back. Fleury did the rest in the third period until Matt Cooke scored an empty net goal to seal it.
With that win and the two before it, the Penguins still sit second in the Atlantic Division with 62 points, 3 behind the Atlantic and NHL-leading Philadelphia Flyers, who have 65.
The Vancouver Canucks also have 65 points in the West, but Pittsburgh and Detroit now fall right in behind them and the Flyers.
As far as Crosby goes, While Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos has now passed #87 in the goal-scoring department and has moved to within just a few points of him in the overall scoring race, the Pens' Captain spoke publicly yesterday to deny the story published in the Toronto Globe and Mail that he would purposely skip the All-Star game.
"If I can be there, I'll be there," said Crosby, adding -- unfortunately -- that the chances seemed just "slight" that he'd be ready to return by then.
Crosby seems to be getting better, indicating that he has some good days, but still isn't symptom free, and that has kept him from doing any exercising whatsoever.
At this point, it's not likely that Crosby will suit up anytime in the Penguins' next 3 games before the All-Star break, and his continuing absence has again ramped up the debate about whether the NHL is doing enough to protect its players from head-shots. Now, both agents and -- as the piece eariler indicates -- even members of the hated Red Wings' organization are speaking out a little on his behalf.
Certainly, having the league's best player on the shelf for an extended period of time beacuse of a concussion brings the issue more to the forefront.
One thing I will say, however, is that Crosby has been inappropriately labeled a hypocrite by many who see his cries for more protection now as contrary to his supposed silence after Cooke laid a severe concussion on Bruins' center Marc Savard last year.
I couldn't agree more with the opinion of Pens' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Beat Writer Dave Molinari, who a few days ago appropriately pointed out how uninformed those critics really are, because Crosby did indicate at the time Cooke laid out Savard that the league needs to fix "pretty quickly" for the benefit of the players the confusion between what hits are legal and what aren't
Pittsburgh goes to the swampland next to face the Devils on Thursday.
More soon.
NOTES:
The Penguins' announced after the game last night that rookie center Mark Letestu has signed a two-year, one-way contract extension which will pay him 1.25 million total, or approximately $625K per year.
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