Pittsburgh Penguins' Slow Week Yields Promising Results

The National Hockey League regular season has reached its scoreboard-watching phase, a span during which every coach, player, and fan knows the significance of each game to the developing playoff race.

At this frantically-paced, adrenaline-fueled time of year, the hope is that the schedule permits little time for idle worry about your team's postseason fate.

In other words, the players would rather have a constructive outlet for their nervous energy and the coaches and fans would prefer focusing on their own team's issues instead of on how other clubs are faring.

Despite not having the luxury of a busy itinerary last week, the Pittsburgh Penguins nonetheless managed to earn two victories over quality opponents and, in the process, inched ever closer to locking up a postseason berth.

After shutting out the Calgary Flames (the fourth-best scoring team in the NHL) Wednesday night, the Penguins topped the New York Rangers 4-3 Saturday to move three points ahead of their Atlantic Division counterparts with six games to play for each team.

And while the stars certainly showed up for Pittsburgh—league-leading scorer Evgeni Malkin played a key role in both goals against Calgary, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular in the same game, and captain Sidney Crosby drilled home the game-winner in the third period Saturday—the lesser lights played equal or greater roles in helping the Pens make the most of their slow work week.

Defensemen Kris Letang and Hal Gill (!) scored Wednesday, making it the first time in Penguins history that blueliners contributed both goals in a 2-0 victory. Letang netted his second tally in two games from in tight on the power play; Gill's second of the entire season (and 31st in 845 career matches) finished a two-man rush with Malkin that was sprung by a well-timed Rob Scuderi poke check.

A host of secondary weapons got on the scoresheet Saturday, led by Ruslan Fedotenko, who earned his first goal in over a month to go with a pair of assists. Energy players Max Talbot and Matt Cooke also picked up a goal each to stake the Penguins to a 2-0 first-period bulge.

Fedotenko's previous goal came while playing on Crosby's line Feb. 21 in Philadelphia, and the seventh-year pro from the Ukraine hit No. 87 with a headman pass through the neutral zone midway through the final frame that the NHL's No. 3 scorer turned into Pittsburgh goal No. 4.

The win Saturday wrapped up a 10-1-2 month of March. (By the way, where are all the "March of the Penguins" headlines? I know that was played out three years ago, but I'm still disappointed.) The Pens probably need to win only two of their remaining six contests to guarantee further spring hockey in Pittsburgh, but a higher seed and even home ice in the first round are still within reach.

According to the fantastic Sports Club Stats Web site, the Penguins, who had a mere 26 percent chance of qualifying for the playoffs after falling in Toronto Feb. 14 (not coincidentally, Michel Therrien's final game), are now virtually guaranteed to play on with just over a 98 percent probability. 

Take a moment to let it soak in. This monumental shift in fortune occurred in only six weeks.

The Pens' team-record eight-game home stand concludes Wednesday as the Devils invade Mellon Arena. The Black and Gold has essentially no chance to catch division-leading New Jersey, but the motivational fires will still be stoked, since the clubs are currently lined up to collide in the first round of the Stanley Cup tournament in the 3 vs. 6 matchup.

Following that, the Penguins won't play again until Saturday, when they finish the season with five games in eight days. Until then, though, they will enjoy another week chock full of practice and evenings away from the rink. 

The Pens plan to be busy until early June, anyway, so what's another slow week?