Crosby, Pens surging at the right time
While everyone has been wrapped up in Evgeni Malkin’s year-long dominance of the point standings, Sidney Crosby has quietly returned to form.
Malkin is deserving of the attention. There’s no doubt about that. But while he has racked up the points and extended his lead over Alex Ovechkin, Crosby has developed chemistry on the top line with Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz — so much so that he has actually been producing more offensively than his league-leading teammate.
He is currently riding a 13-game point streak and playing some of his best hockey of the season. Over those 13 games the Penguins are 8-2-3, earning 19 of a possible 26 points. Crosby was out of the lineup for four straight games during his scoring streak from Feb. 5 through March 3.
As he has surged so has the team. With the playoffs less than a month away, his timing could not be any better.
Weekly Rant: Let’s talk MVP
My Rant
So Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun have started some chatter on ESPN.com about who should win the NHL’s Most Valuable Player award (Hart Trophy).
I figured I do my own analysis of each player and give my take on who should win the MVP. So far the message boards are not too favorable for either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby.
What bothers me the most is that people take in to consideration external factors. The award goes to the “player adjudged most valuable to his team.” More simply, the player that is the most valuable to his team and its success.
Before I give you my take, here’s how the candidates stats compare:
Penguins 6, Bruins 4
There’s two things that came out of the Penguins’ 6-4 win on Sunday, which came by way of a four-goal third period.
Bruins 4 — Penguins 6
No. 1: The Penguins broke out of their funk and moved four points ahead of last place in the Eastern Conference. They did so against the best team in the Eastern Conference and, after losing a game they should have won the day before against Ottawa, turned a disappointing start to the homestand around.
No. 2 isn’t as positive: Marc-Andre Fleury will have no help down the stretch from backup Mathieu Garon. Garon allowed four goals on just 25 shots and, aside from the shorthanded goal that Boston scored, each was his fault.
But nevermind the bad. A win like this should be basked in.
Radio Show Tonight!
So I know this is a hockey blog, but I have a national sports show every night from 8-10 p.m. called The Big Picture. You can listen online at www.BlackSquirrelRadio.com and feel free to shoot me an IM at BSRKent!
I’ll be talking March Madness since the brackets have recently been announced!
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Chris | PPT
“Avenge 6-4-08″
Burn the Baby Blues
Is it just me, or have the Penguins be horrible while wearing the throwback uniforms this year. And is it just me, or does it not even feel special when they wear them anymore?
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
The answer to both of those questions is no, it’s not just me. They have been terrible in the third jerseys. Also, by wearing them so much — now nine times this season — nothing about seeing the team play in them feels special.
The following are the results of each game so far this season in which the Penguins have worn the baby blue uniforms. I warn you … it’s not pretty.
A new home away from home: Columbus
I promise that this will be the last fan piece I will write this season, barring any extreme circumstances of course. However, Nationwide Arena might as well have been called Mellon Arena last night.
The amount of Pittsburgh fans in Columbus was astounding. Even Columbus Blue Jackets’ head coach Ken Hitchcock said so. In Dave Molinari’s recap of the game in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he quote Hitchcock saying …
“The building wasn’t loud enough because we had folks in the wrong-colored sweaters here,” he said. “Too many of them.”
No kidding. The Jackets set a franchise record for home attendance in a single game last night, with 19,167 packed into Nationwide Arena. It sure sounded and looked like half of those people were rooting for the opposition.
I’ve never been prouder.
Who wants it more?
Dan Bylsma
First off, I never thought I’d say the words ‘Pittsburgh Penguins’ and ‘50 shots’ unless I was talking about the other team’s shot total.
However, that’s exactly what the Pens racked up against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. And I have to say it … that would have never happened under Michel Therrien.
Neither would a 9-1-1 record over the last 11 games and a seat in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. I was always a Therrien fan, but now I’m realizing how much better off the Pens are without him.
But enough about the past. Tonight’s game is another huge one, which will be the case for the rest of the season. Going to Columbus, we can all expect the same desperation out of the Blue Jackets that the Penguins have been playing with recently.
Talk about big games, Pens vs. Panthers
This is the biggest game of the season so far. There’s no doubt.
With a Montreal loss to Edmonton, the winner of this game moves up into 5th place in the Eastern Conference Standings. That’s huge.
Now the standings don’t really mean much now, but it just shows how close this race really is. The Penguins and Panthers are tied with 76 points.
This is the third meeting of the year between the two and earning two points will go far in determining tiebreakers.
People … huge.
Weekly Rant: The truth about Pens vs. Caps
My Rant
So here’s the deal, Tony F. of The Confluence at KK has sparked heated debate over the last few weeks regarding the Pens vs. Caps and Sid vs. Ovi.
I’ve tried expressing myself on his comment space, but after reading recent posts from fans over there I felt the need to write this.
There’s no debating that the Washington Capitals have been a better hockey team than the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. If you try and debate that, you’re crazy. I know it, you know it… every Pens fan knows it.
Because of their consistency, they have been able to take seven of a possible eight points from the pens during the season series. And with that, their fans have reappeared.
Sid vs. Ovie, let’s get it straight
I’m sick and tired of hearing about this rivalry for one reason: the horrible comparisons.
Regardless of what anyone thinks, Alex Ovechkin will be the first name out of anyone’s mouth for best player in the world. This is because people love to see goals and, let’s be honest, no one is better at scoring than Ovie.
However, that may not necessarily be the actualy definition of what makes the greatest player in the world. Case in point, Ovechkin isn’t even leading his league in scoring.
I’m not here to play the numbers game and show who creates and who doesn’t. That’s been done before. I’m more concerned about what we value in hockey as opposed to what is really important.
Team Info
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Regular Season Stats:
Points: Sidney Crosby — 43 pts. (22 goals, 21 assists)
Goals: Sidney Crosby — 22
Assists: Evgeni Malkin — 24
PIM: Matt Cooke/Mike Rupp — 54
+/-: Sidney Crosby — plus-14
GAA: Marc-Andre Fleury — 2.31
SV%: Marc-Andre Fleury — .911
Atlantic Division Standings:
1. New Jersey Devils: 25-8-1 (51 pts.)
2. Pittsburgh Penguins: 25-10-1 (51 pts.)
3. New York Rangers: 16-16-3 (35 pts.)
4. New York Islanders: 13-16-7 (33 pts.)
5. Philadelphia Flyers: 15-17-2 (32 pts.)
