The Penguins show signs of life, at last
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Sidney Crosby fakes Jared Boll of the Columbus Blue Jackets off his skates with a move in the third period last night. Crosby had a goal and two assists in the win. -
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury makes a toe save against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second period last night. Fleury had 33 saves as the Penguins won their second game in a row. -
Commentary from the crowd at last night's Penguins' game.
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Just a few weeks ago, it was nothing more than a cruel oxymoron for the Penguins.
Home-ice advantage at Mellon Arena? Yeah, right.
More like a place where playoff hopes went to die.
But their 4-1 victory against Columbus there last night was the Penguins' third in a row on home ice, and fifth in the past six at Mellon Arena.
That doesn't merit a lifetime achievement award, to be sure, but it's exactly what the Penguins (26-23-5) need to remain a factor in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
"If we're going to be a playoff team, we need to be a dominant team at home," coach Michel Therrien said. "If we're not, it's not going to happen."
Just how much their play at home has been upgraded should be evident during the next couple of games, as the top two teams in the Western Conference, Detroit and San Jose, will drop by tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday night, respectively.
"It will be a good test," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "We know we can play with both of those teams."
Especially if they get the kind of solid performance they produced last night.
Oh, there were a few individual efforts that stood out -- Kris Letang scoring two goals, Marc-Andre Fleury stopping 33 of 34 shots, Sidney Crosby picking up three points -- but the Penguins won this game mostly because they got 60 minutes of quality work from everyone in their lineup.
"Everyone played their role well," center Jordan Staal said. "Everyone was contributing. Everyone was shooting. Everyone was getting opportunities to score. And everyone played well defensively.
"It was an all-round good 60 minutes. It doesn't happen a whole lot lately, but we did it. We knew we could do it. Obviously, we've got to keep on doing it."
The victory marked just the second time since mid-November that the Penguins (26-23-5) have won consecutive games and moved them into a tie with Carolina for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Florida.
It also seemed to have its roots in the Penguins' come-from-behind victory against Tampa Bay Wednesday, when they scored four unanswered goals in the third period and overtime.
"Right from the start, it was the same kind of energy we had in the third period and overtime," Orpik said.
The game was scoreless until 5:33 of the second period, when Letang put the Penguins in front during a power play.
He had the puck to the left of the Columbus goal and, after Blue Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore broke up his attempt to throw the puck in front, regained possession and banked a shot off goalie Wade Dubielewicz and into the net.
Petr Sykora got the winner just over three minutes later, as he chipped an Orpik feed by Dubielewicz from the left hash for his 21st, and Letang effectively put the game out of reach at 15:08, when he took a drop pass from Crosby and whipped a high shot past Dubielewicz from the left dot.
That gave Letang five goals for the season, and two for the second time in the past six games.
"I'm confident," he said. "I'm stronger, too."
And more accurate than he was a few months ago, when he struggled to get the puck on goal with regularity.
"He's hitting the net more," Therrien said.
"There were a lot of times earlier in the season that he had quality chances but he was missing the net."
Not on this night, as only one of Letang's six shot attempts missed the target.
Fleury turned in a brilliant left-skate stop on Derek Dorsett from point-blank range at 17:18 of the second -- "Marc-Andre made some key saves at the right time," Therrien said. "You need key saves to keep your team confidence and focused" -- and maintained his shutout until 9:44 of the third, when Fedor Tyutin scored on a power play.
Columbus couldn't beat him again, however, and Crosby scored into an empty net with 33 seconds left in regulation to close out the scoring.
And so the Penguins kept pace with the teams they're battling for the a spot at the bottom of the Eastern playoff field. But with the latest challenge survived, there's an even larger one looming.
"It doesn't get any easier," Crosby said. "We have a tough one ahead of us here Sunday."
First Published February 7, 2009 12:00 am
