Wednesday gives glimpse into top teams, top blueliners heading down the stretch
EDIT: Late add, PENGUIN Audio
Dan Bylsma
Pascal Dupuis
Brenden Morrow
Matt Niskanen
Tanner Glass
Eric Hartzell
Don’t look now, but the Pittsburgh Penguins have a four-game winning streak. Four down and 14 to go. A new all-time record is within sight for the second time this year. History will be made!
Yeah, we’re kidding. Only six (pretty much meaningless) games remain until the shaving stops – for the guys, at least. Not sure what the women do come playoff time.
Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Martin, Letang, Cooke, these key players are all dealing with injuries or getting over particular ailments. It might sound hard to believe, but the first post-season puck drops in less than two weeks from today.
Now is the time to really start bearing down on specific timelines. We’re chronologically closer to the playoffs than we are to the month of March.
The biggest question on many Penguins fans’ minds is the timeframe for a Sidney Crosby return. Crosby has skated with a full shield prior to practice every day since Monday. It sounds logical that the team will give him at least a week to get comfortable with the shield and build up his world-class stamina before even thinking about getting him back into game action.
Starting tonight, the Penguins play four times in a six-day span. Most likely, all of these games are too soon for Crosby. Knowing that the center is a world-class athlete and will push to play as soon as possible, it’s conceivable that he lobbies to go against Ottawa, Monday, April 22. Still, a best guess puts him back on the ice Thursday, April 25 in New Jersey. That would give Crosby two full regular-season contests to get his Ferrari out of the garage.
James Neal (concussion) appears to be closer than Crosby. Paul Martin (broken wrist) is skating, but it’s not easy to rush back from a broken bone. His best-case scenario would be to play during some part of Round 1.
Kris Letang returned last week. The broken toe has healed, but the defender has twice missed time with a groin injury. It’s possible that he’s not 100 percent healthy until the summer and runs a risk of re-injury at any time.
Matt Cooke (foot) will continue to get maintenance days but shouldn’t miss much if any more time.
Evgeni Malkin’s status might be the most uncertain. He could play with a bum shoulder as soon as Wednesday, but should he? He can’t shoot the way he wants. What good is having Malkin play at less than 100 percent when he could be taking time off to get fully healthy for the postseason? Either that, or the Penguins might know that he won’t be 100 percent until after summer – so why worry about giving him an extra game or two to rest.
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Pens-Habs
The Penguins beat the Canadiens, 7-6, on March 2, ushering in a month-long string of victories, an NHL-record of 15 straight. Brandon Sutter, Matt Cooke and Chris Kunitz scored two goals apiece and Kris Letang had four assists. Sutter’s goal 52 seconds into overtime sealed the deal for Pittsburgh. Interestingly, Sutter has scored in only two goals since.
Tomas Vokoun stopped 33 of 39 shots for the win.
Brian Gionta netted two scores for Montreal and four Habs’ players tallied two assists: Alex Emelin, Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Kaberle.
Goalie Carey Price surrendered all seven goals on 36 shots.
The second game of the season series moved to Consol Energy Center. On March 26, Pittsburgh shut out Montreal, 1-0, courtesy of a Sidney Crosby shot over Price’s shoulder. Marc-Andre Fleury started the game, but left after making 25 saves with a head injury.
Brian Gionta angled Tyler Kennedy into Fleury, causing the goalie to leave the game.
Vokoun came in, relieving the Flower and stopping 12 shots en route to the Penguin victory.
It will be interesting to see if the Pens feel retribution is in order for Gionta on Wednesday night.
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Poll Results
Question:
Who deserves the Norris Trophy as the NHL's "greatest all-around" defenseman?
As of late Wednesday morning, Kris Letang was in the lead over PK Subban, 45 percent to 26 percent, in the Hockey Buzz Norris Trophy voting. Subban jumped out to an early lead in the voting, but Letang has made a strong comeback. No other player received 10 percent or more of the votes.
A case can be made for either blueliner. The last six games of the season will likely go a long way toward determining who succeeds Erik Karlsson as the NHL’s next Norris winner. As always, thanks for voting.
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Links ‘n At
"Penguins going outside again as part of outdoor series," the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
If things go well, this game could pit the two 2013 Stanley Cup participants in a rematch.
"Penguins ‘best fit’ for former Quinnipiac star, goalie Eric Hartzell," the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
"Boston Marathon bombings hit home for current, ex-Pens," the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
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Tweets ‘O the Day
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
Bylsma: "Adams Oates is the only person I've heard of who doesn't" think Crosby should win Hart. Oates is pushing for Ovechkin.
Rob Rossi @RobRossi_Trib
#TribHKY >> Crosby, Martin, Neal skated Wednesday. Malkin unlikely to play tonite. #pens
ROOT SPORTS™ | PIT @ROOTSPORTSPIT
Bylsma said Fleury will start. Crosby will not skate tomorrow, is going home to attend a funeral with family. -DP
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Ever wonder how scoring has changed in the NHL?
Look at my Twitter Avatar when you get a chance. @JohnToperzer
Sidney Crosby is having a great season, with 56 points in 36 games. Check out how many points Mario Lemieux had in 33 games.
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Treasure Life!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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