Remarkable, resilient Penguins set for playoffs
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Sidney Crosby participates in the Penguins' practice Tuesday at Southpointe, but still no contact.
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When the Penguins face off tonight for their Stanley Cup playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, they will begin their bid to win a championship despite being without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, two of the National Hockey League's elite scorers.
Which would be akin to asking those classic Steelers to win a Super Bowl without Terry Bradshaw and Mean Joe Greene.
Or the Pirates of that era to win a World Series without Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.
Or the Penguins of the 1990s to take the Cup without Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
It borders on the unthinkable.
Except for this: These Penguins, somehow, some way, are still skating sky-high.
They finished the regular season at 49-25-8, the NHL's second-highest victory total and the second-best record in franchise history. After Crosby sustained a concussion with two hits to the head Jan. 1 and 5, they went 23-13-5. After Malkin was lost to a right knee injury Feb. 4 and both stars were out, they went 15-10-4, including a 13-4-2 tear carrying into this postseason.
"If you look at all the things we had to endure, it's a pretty good job," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "You're never going to replace the guys we lost, but we kept going."
That is to say nothing of missing several other players for extended stretches: Orpik had a broken hand. Mark Letestu and Dustin Jeffrey, the centers tabbed to replace Crosby and Malkin, went down. So did wingers Chris Kunitz and Arron Asham. One night against the Los Angeles Kings, the Penguins had to recall four players from their minor-league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre just to fill the roster. In all, 350 man-games were lost to injury, more than double Tampa Bay's 172.
Players were out of position, out of their usual roles, and the only constants were the goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury, the relentless work ethic and, yes, the winning.
How have they done it?
Crosby still ended up the Penguins' leading scorer with 66 points, and next on the list was defenseman Kris Letang, whose 50 points tied for 91st in the NHL. Clearly, the offense had to come from other sources, and it did, notably from forwards Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal and Pascal Dupuis.
First Published April 12, 2011 10:47 pm
