Taking Over Broadway, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Kris Letang is returning to the lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion in late November

- Arron Asham is out with concussion like symptoms.  Ben Lovejoy will also sit with Letang’s return

- The Pens come in on a 3 game winning streak and hope to keep it going against the best team in the East right now

- Great article on the reformation of Matt Cooke:  http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7472666/pittsburgh-penguins-matt-cooke-proves-change-possible?eleven=twelve

Result:

Pens 4  Rangers 1

Goals:  Kunitz (14) from Martin, Neal

            Park (4) from Engelland, Cooke

            Malkin (23) from Letang

            Malkin (24) from Neal, Kunitz

The Good:

- Kris Letang’s return went very well, as he recorded an assist and 24:17 of ice time to lead the team

Letang returned to the ice already in All-Star form.

- The Pens extended their win streak to 4 games, and got their first win over the East leading Rangers this season

- The first line continues to be dominant, with all 3 members having a 2 point night.

- The team came out with a great forecheck and worked the Rangers hard, building a 8-0 lead in shots and a 1-0 lead before the Rangers could sustain any pressure against them.

Evgeni Malkin – Despite a very concerted effort by the Rangers in the 1^st period to physically take Malkin off of his game, he persevered and scored yet another highlight reel goal in the 3^rd period to give the Pens a 2 goal lead and added an empty netter as well.  There is simply no player playing at his level of confidence and skill right now.  Malkin is now in the lead for the Art Ross trophy (points).

Lundqvist never stood a chance.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Fleury held tough through some scrambles around the net and held the opposition to just 1 goal for the 4^th time in his last 5 games.

Paul Martin – Despite getting caught on the Rangers goal because he led an offensive rush, Martin played one of his best defensive games of the season.  He got into it physically and had quite a few key poke checks and shot blocks.

The Bad:

- Paul Steigerwald thinking Sullivan scored when in reality it was Richard Park (not sure how you confuse anything about the 2).

- The Pens lost the faceoff battle for the 4^th game in a row (with these results, who cares?)

Eric Tangradi – His fight looked uncomfortable and was also ill-advised with a very quiet Rangers crowd and the Pens up 1-0.  The fight brought the crowd back into the game after the Pens had an 8-0 lead in shots through the 1^st period.  Tangradi looks like a desperate player trying to find his place in the NHL right now.

Always falling backwards...

The Ugly:

- No forwards went to cover on defense for Paul Martin while he was leading the rush on the Rangers only goal.  While it was during a line change, the fact that a defenseman is the furthest guy in the zone has to be picked up on immediately by everyone.

 Thoughts:

- This is the first game this season that the Pens looked like a stronger team than another top team in the standings.  Sure, they have earned wins over the Blackhawks and Canucks, but neither game was necessarily a strong performance.  However, the Pens can beat anyone if they play like they did tonight.

- With Letang back and healthy, the Pens sat Ben Lovejoy.  GM Ray Shero has already stated that he does not want to trade any of his younger defensemen (Samuelsson, Despres, etc), so expect him to look to move one of the current NHL defensemen closer to the deadline.  My guess would be Lovejoy or Niskanen.  Niskanen has more value in both his level of play and since he’s an RFA after this season, so he may be the more valuable trade bait.

- The Pens move into 6^th in the Conference, with NJ having more wins but the Pens having more wins that aren’t in a shootout.  That could be a key stat come playoff time, as NJ already has 8 shootout wins that won’t count towards a tiebreaker while the Pens only have 4.

- With a 2^nd game in as many nights tomorrow against a lowly Canadiens team, I would HOPE Brent Johnson gets the start.  Fleury has played in 19 straight games and this would be a great time to give him a break.

Pens Record: 25-17-4, 54 pts, 4^th in the Atlantic, 6^th in the East

Next Game:  1/20 vs Mtl, 7pm