The Penguins did something last night that they have not done very much of this season. They staggered an opponent with a couple quick third period goals, but kept coming and found a way to get the knock out punch.

This team has blown many leads throughout the year, many times because they just couldn't seem to get a fourth or fifth goal to finish an opponent off. Thus allowing the door to remain open for said opponent to run on through. That changed last night and I hope that it is a sign of what is to come in the second half as the Penguins battle to secure a playoff spot.

The game against the Rangers was an interesting one, in that the Penguins and Rangers seemed to be very evenly matched through the first period. The Rangers completely took over the game in the second, as they out shot the Penguins 18-8 and the Penguins dominated the third with a 5 goal outburst. Had you seen only one period of this game you would have had no clue who the better team was or what the picture looked like as a whole. It was almost as if three mini games were played.

It was good that the Penguins bounced back from a wretched second period to take over a very winnable game and once they took the lead, they never looked back. In fact they were still pressing the offense as the final buzzer sounded.

Though the Penguins quickly took a 3-1 lead in the third period, the moment that convinced me that things may be on the upswing arrived when the Birds were awarded a two man advantage. Now the power play has obviously struggled and they haven't necessarily been automatic during their 5 on 3s. Michel Therrien utilized his time out to rest his players, rally them and hammer home the importance of cashing in this opportunity. When I asked him about the importance of getting that fourth goal, he agreed that a "death blow" was needed there.

"Yeah, I thought that could have been the killer," Therrien said. "We spending over a minute on the power play and I just wanted to make sure we rest our players and they know what to do. We needed that goal, I thought that could have been that killer goal and it was a nice play by Crosby and Sykora to just finish it."

This was a huge game for the team's confidence, especially considering they got contributions from up and down the line-up against a formidable opponent and a great goaltender. Some individuals stand to benefit even more so...Kris Letang, for one, who scored two goals in the game.

"Oh yeah, it's great for the confidence of the team," said Letang last night. "I know that we were struggling a little bit before the break and it's just like very important to win those games at home. Especially against our division team...like I said, it is good for everyone and we going to build on that for the games in the future."

Therrien echoed Letang's sentiments, but realized that it could be huge for his young defenseman.

"It's good for his confidence offensively...but I am impressed with the way he is playing defensively as well," Therrien said. "He is competing and making a good first pass. I think offensively it's going to be good to finally...we all know he has a lot of skills and it's always a matter of time with players like this. We can't forget that he's only 21 years old and there's not many 21 years old in the league that have the role or the quality of ice time we give him."

To compete on a nightly basis and win the games that will be necessary to make a push for a playoff spot, the Penguins are going to need contributions from everyone. Getting goals from players like Kris Letang is going to be tantamount to the Penguins success the rest of the way.

Though it wasn't visible during the second period, I saw a team playing with desperation last night. One that was shooting the puck from all over the ice and crashing the net looking for rebounds. Neither of those things was common throughout the first 40+ games of the season. It was refreshing to see it, as the team got at least two goals by employing this technique.

The Penguins could probably have secured 7 to 10 additional points during the first half if only they had been shooting the puck as they did last night. Let's hope that this new found "Killer Instinct" remains on the agenda, as the road is only going to get tougher over the next few weeks leading up to the March 4th trading deadline and beyond...

More later...

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Eric Godard and Colton Orr locked horns once again last night. Orr had gotten the better of Goddard this season in several brawls, but Goddard got some retribution and sparked his team with a huge victory :03 seconds into the game...



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As we all know, the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. The Penguins have been huge supporters of the cross town neighbor...here is a video that the team put together prior to the AFC Championship game...



We also all realize that Renegade by the band Styx is the theme for the Steelers defense and has been for many years. Well, the Penguins have also made a video for the Jumbotron in support of the Steelers that splices clips of the Penguins with clips from the Steelers set to the tune...it has been played at recent Penguins home games.

Here is a look...




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