I’m happy with the weekend’s results for the most part.

The 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings was what I expected in that game. The Kings are not a team the Penguins should lose to. They showed up and competed and got the valuable two points in the standings.

The lone goal given up by the Pens can’t really be blamed on anyone on the ice. It was a 5-on-3 powerplay goal on a bomb by Drew Doughty that was tipped by Michal Handzus.

The blame here will go on the two guys in the penalty box. In this case, Mark Eaton and Jordan Staal took minor penalties 20 seconds apart that eventually set up this goal.

All around I was happy with the performance in this game and even Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the hated Flyers.

The Penguins once again wore the ugly powder blue jerseys and paid for it as a result. Can we please stop this experiment already?

For the most part, the Pens dominated the game and forced Martin Biron to win the game for Philadelphia.

The Pens got a few pucks behind Biron, but just not over the goal-line. On several occasions a Flyers player was there to clear the puck out of danger, or Biron somehow found the puck just in time.

The first Flyers goal is entirely Rob Scuderi’s fault.

With the Flyers on a powerplay in the first period, Mike Knuble fired a shot on Marc-Andre Fleury who made the save, but left a rebound. Scuderi attempted to clear the puck up the middle of the ice on his backhand while staring Fleury in the face and completely whiffed on it.

The attempted clear became a direct pass to Simon Gagne who buried the puck behind Fleury for the early 1-0 lead.

The second goal was another penalty killing mishap in the second period. With the Flyers breaking into the zone and driving to the net, Brooks Orpik made a play on his man as he should have.

Mark Eaton was visibly confused and somehow didn’t notice Scott Hartnell racing to the backpost looking for the easy tap-in goal. Jeff Carter saw Hartnell and attempted a pass to him that ended up hitting Hartnell in the skate and going in. The goal was reviewed and deemed legit.

Eaton takes the full point on this one for not blocking the pass and not picking up the backside player.

The Flyers third goal was an empty netter and I will not assign points for empty net goals, unless a Penguin puts it in their own net.

The effort was there, but the bounces went Philadelphia’s way. Simple as that. No need to dwell on it. The Penguins just need to focus on continuing to play with high energy and effort and things will work out in the end.

Up next are the recently vastly improved Calgary Flames in what should be a good measuring stick for the Penguins. The Flames come to town on Wednesday.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 15 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 17 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 16 GP
Hal Gill - 5.34 - 17 GP
Mark Eaton - 6.33 - 18 GP
Brooks Orpik - 5.09 - 18 GP
Rob Scuderi - 4.50 - 18 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.88 - 18 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 18 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 18 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 18 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 18 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 18 GP
Max Talbot - 1.0 - 18 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 4 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Why would a team willingly do this to its fan base? I have no answers, but I’m convinced that’s what’s going on here.

With a two-goal lead in the third against Ottawa, they blow it and later lose in the shootout to Ottawa.

Sunday against Boston, just more of the same.

With the Pens trailing 3-2 heading to the third period against the Bruins, I was hoping and begging for a win. They’ve made a season out of third period comebacks and blown leads, so why not one more for good measure?

I’m already in my paranoid playoff antics mode where apparently if I put my pants on wrong, the team is doomed.

Prime example?

I hadn’t shaved during the recent seven-game win streak. Then, before the Columbus game on Thursday I had to shave out of necessity for work. The result? 4-3 loss in a shootout. The hockey gods then punished me some more with yesterday’s 4-3 shootout loss against Ottawa. I’m so screwed and it’s only March.

Moving onto today’s third period where the question was, “could the Pens do it again?”

Yep. Sure enough the Pens delivered in a big way.

Blake Wheeler had a holding penalty called on him just 28 seconds into the final frame and the Pens pounced on the opportunity.

Sergei Gonchar fired a wrist shot through traffic from the point that bounced off something in front and dropped dramatically to the ice and behind Tim Thomas to tie the game at 3-3.

The initial call was that Chris Kunitz had deflected it, but it was later deemed that he did not. Why is this important? This was his second goal of the game. Still not important right? Read on.

Sixteen seconds later, Bill Guerin blocked a shot and the puck ricocheted to Kunitz who had a breakaway from his own blueline. With a little shoulder fake he got Thomas to open the pads and Kunitz slipped it through the opening for what appeared to be his third goal of the game and second career hat trick.

Thankfully, I was not in attendance and throwing my hat. If I had been, I’d want my hat back for sure.

In typical Penguin fashion, Petr Sykora takes a hooking call about a minute after Kunitz’s go-ahead goal. As a result, Michael Ryder picks off a clearing attempt by Brooks Orpik and roofs it over the glove of Mathieu Garon to tie the game at 4-4.

Orpik will take the full 1.0 in this for an absolutely awful clearing attempt up the middle of the ice. Use the boards big guy or make sure you have a clear lane to get rid of the puck.

Just under seven minutes later, Jordan Staal protects the puck in the corner to the right of Thomas and finds Sykora in his sweet spot in the high slot. Sykora rifles a one-timer past Thomas to send the Mellon Arena into a frenzy with a 5-4 lead.

The Bruins upped the pressure and had some very good chances late to tie the game, but Garon and the Pens were up to the task.

The Pens iced the game when Staal picked off a pass from Zdeno Chara and deposited the puck into the empty cage with 57 seconds to play.

I can’t even begin to put into words the magnitude of this win. Huge does not do it justice. Normally, the Pens fold on the second day of back to back games. I was fully expecting the team to come out flat after yesterday’s physical game with the Senators, but such wasn’t the case.

This team has a new attitude about them. They want it now. They know they are feared and are preying on that fear in the opponent. The new aggressive forecheck is a nightmare to play against because you never know when it’s coming.

Dan Bylsma has a system that fits this team like a glove and it’s working. 10-1-3 under him is proof enough. Imagine where this team could be had Shero and Co. pulled the trigger on Michel Therrien a month sooner when it should have happened.

The Penguins have 11 games remaining in the regular season and currently sit 5th in the Eastern Conference with 82 points. Most teams they are battling with for playoff positioning have a game or two in hand, so it’s time to start hoping for some losses from those teams to even things out.

Here’s the other three goals against to update the Hal Gill Quotient:

Goal #1 - Mark Recchi Tips In A Mark Stuart Blast

The puck gets dumped into the far corner and Kris Letang is forced to retrieve it because Mark Eaton was slow to react. Letang attemps a pass to Staal in the faceoff circle, but the puck bonces away from Staal and right to Stuart who unloads a bomb. Letang and Eaton are both standing next to each other and Recchi is untouched in the slot and deflects the puck past Garon to tie the game at 1-1.

Points assigned: Letang gets 0.5 for the bad pass to Staal and Eaton gets the other 0.5 for not moving over and covering Recchi in the slot.

Goal #2 - Phil Kessel Tap In On Backdoor

Chara fires a wrist shot on goal through a crowd from the point. Wheeler beats Sidney Crosby to the rebound and passes through the slot to a streaking Kessel who buries it into the empty net behind Garon for the 2-1 lead.

Points assigned: Crosby gets 0.5 for being late to the rebound and allowing Wheeler to get the pass off. Eaton gets the other 0.5 goes to Eaton for looking lost and not blocking the pass to Kessel. Can we break up the pairing of Eaton and Letang please?

Goal #3 - Wheeler Shorthanded One-Timer From 3 Feet

This was the point in the game I thought would be the back breaker, but the Pens rebounded nicely as noted above.

Anyway, Wheeler leads the shorthanded rush up the ice and fires a puck off the side of the net. Evgeni Malkin comes back into the zone hard and drills Wheeler in the corner to free up the puck. Gonchar whiffs on it and David Krejci steals it away and feeds Wheeler out front for the easy goal.

Points assigned: Malkin gets 0.5 for a weak attempt at getting Gonchar the puck after the big hit. Gonchar gets the other 0.5 for his half of the mishap in the corner that resulted in the goal.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 12 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 14 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 13 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 14 GP
Mark Eaton - 4.83 - 15 GP
Brooks Orpik - 4.59 - 15 GP
Rob Scuderi - 3.50 - 15 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.38 - 15 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 15 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 15 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 15 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 15 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 15 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 15 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 11 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Up next for the Penguins are the Atlanta Thrashers in the third game of an eight-game homestand on Tuesday night.

The Cardiac Kids are back at it today opening up a franchise record eight-game homestand. A solid homestand here should solidify the Pens place in the playoffs and it all starts today against the hated Senators.

The Pens are coming into this game off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

The reason there wasn’t a post about that game is because of the massive chest pains and stomach pains that game caused me.

Down 3-0 after an early goal in the third period, the Pens storm back to tie the game with three goals in 3:08 to tie it.

In overtime, Chris Kunitz cleanly beats Steve Mason, but catches iron. Seconds later, Ruslan Fedotenko channeled Sidney Crosby’s hands and deked two defenders out of their skates. Mason came out to challenge and Fedotenko slides a nice pass to Kris Letang who was streaking in from the point. Letang fires a one-timer only to be flat out robbed by Mason’s blocker.

In the shootout, Kristian Huselius scored the lone goal in the third round for the win.

During the intermissions today, I’ll break down the three goals against in the Columbus game to update the Hal Gill Quotient.

Some things to keep in mind today:

- Lead after two periods and your odds of winning are very good as Ottawa is just 1-25-2 when trailing after two periods.

- Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be the starting goaltender today with Mathieu Garon getting the call tomorrow against Boston.

- Petr Sykora is still listed as day-to-day, but could play this weekend. When he plays is the question.

- The Sentors lead the season series 2-1.

- Kunitz has caught fire since coming to Pittsburgh and has eight points in his last nine games. Thank you Ray Shero!

- The Pens are 9-1-2 under Dan Bylsma.

- Brian Elliot in net for the Senators

First Period

20:00 - Pens wearing the ugly powder blue jerseys…….

19:00 - Looks as if Sykora is in the lineup according to the Hockey Night In Canada crew. PP coming for the Pens. Mike Fisher for roughing.

18:17 - Couple solid chances down low for Bill Guerin, but Elliot is up to the task early

17:00 - Penalty killed, but some very good puck movement by the boys in blue and some solid saves by Elliot.

15:20 - Daniel Alfredsson rings a wrister off the iron behind Fleury, but it stays out.

14:07 - Senators get a ton of pressure thanks to two horrible pass attempts and turnovers by Hal Gill.

13:55 - SCORE! 1-0 PENGUINS - Eric Godard with an amazing individual effort. Who knew the big fella could skate like that?! Godard flew up the far boards to chase down a puck, beating the defenseman no less. He hauls in the puck along the wall by the hashmarks and makes a power move to the net looking for a teammate in the slot, but the pass goes off a Senator skate and behind Elliot.

13:30 - Fleury stones Mike Comrie on a breakaway. Nice save Flower.

11:24 - 1-1 Tie Chris Campoli fires a wrister from the point off a face-off. The puck had eyes and hit something in front of the net to deflect past Fleury. Malkin takes the blame on this one for losing the draw cleanly and then losing his man off the draw who set the screen. Full point for Geno.

5:34 - There hasn’t been a whistle in a long time until Kunitz takes a tripping call. Sens head to the powerplay. Just as an observation, Gill has looked awful so far in this game. Every time he gets the puck on his stick, his hands turn to stone and he panics. Breathe Baby Huey Breathe!

4:27 - Pascal Dupuis runs over Nick Foligno for no reason. 53 seconds of 5-on-3 coming…

1:59 - Penalties killed, but the Sens rang two more posts on consecutive shots. Fleury getting help from his best friends.

End of period one and we’re toed at 1-1. Pens lead 9-7 in shots, but most of those came early in the period.

Not a bad period, but the Penguins need to work on their in-zone play right now. Sens are getting to many good looks off turnovers and bad breakout passing.

In the offensive zone, the Pens need to stop looking for the pretty play and just fire it on net. Look what happened when Godard threw it on net. I rest my case.

Now let’s go back to Thursday’s game and breakdown the first goal:

Fedor Tyutin leads Huselius into the zone with a pass through a couple of Pens, but Kris Letang got caught flat-footed and a little out of position and ended up chasing Huselius instead of being in his face. Huselies protects the puck an moves to the top of the left faceoff circle. He fires a shot, but Letang recovered slightly to get a stick on Huselius’ stick, but it wasn’t enough to stop the shot. Instead, the puck comes off the stick as a changeup and beats Fleury through the 5-hole.

Points assigned - Letang 0.5 for being out of position, Fleury 0.5 for overreacting to the changeup and getting beat between the legs.

Second Period

17:43 - Elliot makes a nice save on a Sykora one-timer from the high slot. Pens are picking up the physical play early in the period.

16:14 - Dupuis takes his second penalty of the game on a trip on Brian Lee. Nice acting job by Lee.

14:04 - SCORE!!! 2-1 Pens! - SIDNEY CROSBY WITH A TAP IN ON A BEAUTIFUL TIC TAC GOAL FROM JORDAN STAAL AND MARK EATON. The goal comes just after the penalty to Dupuis had expired. Eaton brought the puck up ice and hit Sid in stride. After a weak clearing attempt, Staal sends the puck down low to Eaton who finds Crosby wide-open on the backpost for the tap in goal.

12:58 - Fedotenko takes a high-sticking penalty after failing to lift Jason Spezza’s stick and catching him in the face instead.

10:05 - Comrie throws an elbow into Brooks Orpik’s face while trying to get around him. PP Pens.

8:37 - Chris Phillips is not happy with a by Kunitz on Chris Neil and a melee ensues. Phillips goes after Kunitz, Crosby goes after Phillips, Neil joins the fracas and everyone on the ice pairs off in the scrum. Phillips is physically manhandled by a linesman while trying to kill someone. Nice job zebra.

5:57 - Pens can’t find the back of the net on a couple solid chances by Tyler Kennedy and Staal. Pens are starting to find some open ice to move into now though. Looks like the goal woke them up a little.

5:20 - Trademark glove save by Fleury. Nothing less than what we’ve come to expect out of the young goaltender. Still looks impressive every time though.

4:12 - Jesse Winchester holds Staal. PP Pens. Time to make the Sens pay for taking these penalties.

1:34 - SCORE!!! 3-1 PENS! - Kennedy buries a wrister on a 2-on-1 from Matt Cooke after Cooke stole the puck from Campoli at the Pens’ blueline. Prety play again.

End of period two and the Pens have a 3-1 lead. Remember that stat about the Sens and their record after two periods when trailing that’s noted above.

The other 2 goals from the Columbus game will be broken down after the game.

Third Period

19:36 - Sens head to the powerplay after a hold by Sergei Gonchar, who has played a solid game so far.

16:59 - Penalty over. Fleury covers up the puck and takes a bump from Neil. Fleury punches Neil in the back of the leg with the blocker and another scrum ensues. Way to protect your paint Fleury, but he takes the penalty for slashing. Odd call, but in any event, the Sens have another PP.

15:59 - Dany Heatley drills Gonchar in the teeth with the stick while trying to lift his stick and draws blood. No word yet on how many missing teeth Gonchar might have now, but it’s a four-minute penalty to Heatley.

13:50 - Anton Volchenkov has a “lower body injury” and will not return to this game.

11:13 - Kennedy has been something else lately. He’s been flying around making plays and taking good shots. He’s definitely been one of the best players on the ice today.

12-00 - 3-2 Pens - Foligno rips a wrister to the shortside twine through a sea of blue bodies. Fleury never saw it as Orpik, Staal and Gonchar were all screening him.

7:08 - Malkin gets wide open in the slot and takes a hard wrister, but Elliot is up to the task and leaves no rebound.

6:06- 3-3 Tie - Phillips ties it on a horrible turnover by Scuderi who attempted a breakoutpass/clearing attept. Heatley fires it off Fleury’s shoulder and the puck rolls down him into the pain and Phillips pounds it home. This is all on Scuderi.

3:09 - I cant take this. Another two goal lead blown in the third period. Staring OT in the face for a 4th straight game.

2:02 - After a brilliant skate save by Fleury, Malkin kills the logo on Elliot’s jersey again.

:5.8 - Gonchar battling with Heatley and somehow the refs call a tripping penalty on Gonchar. Complete and utter diver by Heatley.

End of period 3 and we go to overtime for the fourth straight game.

Overtime

4:36 - Huge save by Fleury on a cross-crease pass from Spezza to Heatley. Keeps us alive for now.

4:25 - Another save by Fleury on a slapper by Heatley.

3:58 - Fleury eats one in the chest on a bomb by Filip Kuba.

3:45 - Fleury makes two big saves on Alfredsson and Spezza off a rebound. Pens losing every draw so far.

1:48 - Fleury is standing on his head to keep the Pens alive in this game. Fans are on their feet chanting “Fleury! Fleury! Fleury!”

End of overtime and we head to a shootout for the fourth straight game. Unofficial NHL record has been set by the Pens for most consecutive shootouts.

Pens got a couple chances including a 2-on-1 with Crosby and Malkin, but Elliot got the shoulder on a rising shot by Geno.

If the Pens win this shootout, everyone owes this win to Fleury for his spectacular play tonight especially in overtime.

Shootout

Pens will shoot first.

Letang the first shooter - Letang bails on his usual move and Elliot makes the save.

Alfredsson - Dekes around the sprawling Fleury and the Sens lead 1-0.

Sykora - Stoned by Elliot on the backhand.

Spezza - Fleury makes a nice save on a backhander by Spezza to keep the Pens alive.

Crosby the last hope - SCORES!

Ruutu - Fleury makes the save and we’re going to extras.

Malkin - Elects to shoot and not make a move and Elliot saves it with the glove.

Fisher - Fleury slams the door on the 5-hole and we play on.

Kunitz - Dekes Elliot out of hi jock, but goes over the net.

Comrie - Slides the pucks under the outstretched pad of Fleury and the Sens win the shootout 2-1 and the game 4-3.

Here’s the remaining two goals:

Goal #2: Jackets dump the puck into the zone and Fleury comes out to play it. There’s a big miscommunication between Letang and Fleury, which allows Antoine Vermette to steal the puck and fire an aerial pass out front from his knees. The pass connects with Jason Williams who fires a backhander from the slot to the shelf over Fleury’s glove.

Points assigned: Letang and Fleury get 0.5 each for their little mishap behind the net that led to the goal.

Goal #3: Gonchar has the puck in the corner and coughs it up to Williams who finds Vermette out near the blueline in the high slot. Vermette tees one up and blasts it by Fleury for the 3-0 lead.

Points assigned: Gonchar takes full blame on this one as Fleury had no chance to stop that rocket.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 5.84 - 11 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 14 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 4.58 - 12 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 13 GP
Mark Eaton - 3.83 - 14 GP
Brooks Orpik - 3.59 - 14 GP
Rob Scuderi - 3.50 - 14 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.38 - 14 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 1.5 - 14 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 14 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 14 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 14 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 14 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 14 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Pens don’t have long to think about this one that got away as the Bruins come to town tomorrow. Hopefully, this will teach them a lesson about those awful powder blue jerseys. For the love of God, STOP WEARING THEM! Show me a powder blue penguin in nature and I’ll drop my argument. Until then, my point stands.

Seriously?

This isn’t a joke?

Part of me feels like I’m in a coma and the abnormal delusional part of my brain is creating a false reality, in which the Penguins mysteriously show their true colors as a dominant team in the NHL, after treading along for most of the season in utter mediocrity.

If this really is true, where was this team all season?!

Granted the Pens didn’t have the help that Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin have provided since coming over, but come on. The addition of those two guys is the sole reason this team woke up?

The dramatic change in play tells me that Michel Therrien lost this team months ago and that Ray Shero wasted too much time in replacing him.

The Penguins are now 9-1-1 since Dan Bylsma took over. Yeah, 9-1-1. Pretty nuts isn’t it? It’s like when the Pens called up a kid by the name of Patrick Lalime to lead them down the stretch and then into the playoffs. Hopefully history doesn’t repeat itself with Bylsma compared to Lalime, who became about as useful as an orange pylon in the cage.

The Penguins absolutely dominated the majority of this game and were rewarded for their efforts. They outshot the Panthers 50-21 for the game. Tomas Vokoun played a phenomenal game between the pipes, but was no match for Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin in the shootout. Seriously, look at the move Geno pulled on Vokoun to win the game. Vokoun had no idea what hit him.

The game wasn’t a cakewalk though. The Pens had a 1-0 lead after the first period and were dictating the pace of the game. Matt Cooke and Brooks Orpik were hitting anything that moved like this was a playoff game.

The second period saw the Panthers take back some control and thanks to some fortunate bounces and breaks, a 3-1 lead heading into the final frame.

The Therrien Pens would have packed it in and gotten down on themselves and lost this game by five. Thankfully, those days are long gone. The Bylsma Penguins are starting to believe in themselves once again and showed it again tonight.

They scored two goals in just over 3:30 of play to tie the game at 3-3 with over 14 minutes to play thanks to Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby. This quick rally put the Panthers on their heels and the Pens were just unable to bury another one in regulation or overtime.

Vokoun flat out robbed Staal shortly after Crosby tied the game. Staal was moving toward the backpost in the slot and fired a one-timer off a rebound to the gaping net, but Vokoun dove over out of nowhere to smother the puck and preserve his team’s chances.

Quick note about Crosby’s goal. Guerin notched career assist #400 on the play. This makes two career milestones since coming to Pittsburgh. Welcome home Bill!

Malkin scored his 30th goal of the season on a nasty backhanded from just outside the crease with his back to Vokoun and a defenseman draped all over him. Rather than trying to make a move, Geno just rips the puck behind him without even looking. Vokoun looked around after the puck got by him searching for answers about how Malkin got that puck by him.

As for the Panthers, let’s break down the three goals:

Goal #1 - Nick Boynton Wrister From The Point

Malkin tried chipping a puck up the boards from the corner, but got nothing on it. Keith Ballard held it in and passed it to the slot to David Booth who immediately passed it back to Boynton at the near side point.

Boynton let a wrist shot go through a screen masterfully set up by Brooks Orpik. Marc-Andre Fleury never saw the puck go over his right shoulder.

Points assigned: Malkin gets 0.5 for a bad pass up the boards, Orpik gets 0.5 for stepping in front of Fleury and not blocking the shot.

Goal #2 - Kamil Kreps Bangs Home Rebound

Boynton fires a low shot on Fleury and Kreps was in the right place at the right time with no one on him to hammer home the rebound past Fleury.

Points assigned: Mark Eaton takes the full 1.0 for being entirely out of position. Letang forced his man around the net, at which point Eaton should have slid over to cover Letang’s position. Instead, Eaton followed his man out past the hash marks and never realized he blew the coverage until the red light was on.

Goal #3 - Ballard Deflects Home Rebound In Mid-Air Behind Fleury

The coverage in the defensive zone was pretty good except that no one picked up Ballard streaking to the backpost. Ville Peltonen threw a shot on net from a bad angle, but the resulting rebound went right to Ballard. Fleury made the right move in trying to deflect the puck to the boards, but just got unlucky with it.

Points assigned: Tyler Kennedy takes the full 1.0. Ballard was his man and he didn’t do anything to prevent him from getting to the net.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 4.84 - 10 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 12 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 13 GP
Mark Eaton - 3.83 - 13 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Sergei Gonchar - 3.25 - 11 GP
Brooks Orpik - 3.25 - 13 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 13 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 13 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 13 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 13 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 13 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 13 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 13 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 0.5 - 13 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

He was placed on waivers by Tampa Bay last week prior to the trade deadline and no one claimed him.

I for one, am sad to see him go. I loved him when he was in Pittsburgh. He played with such a reckless abandon, despite his many injuries in his career. His playing style earned him the nickname of Chuck Norris around Pittsburgh and there was actually merchandise with “WWGRD?” (What Would Gary Roberts Do?” printed. Good times.

Nothing phased him at all. Opposing defensemen always looked over their shoulders when they went into the corners to fetch a puck that had been dumped in. You always knew Roberts was going to be flying in behind that poor d-man to put him through the boards and win that puck.

Roberts never took a shift off. He gave 110% every shift and his teammates fed of that. He made the team better with his gritty, take no prisoners style and he will be sorely missed.

For his career, Roberts played 1,224 games, registered 438 goals, 471 assists and 2,560 penalty minutes.

Is he a Hall of Famer? I’d tend to say yes with over 900 points in his career. Not too shabby if you ask me. He also has his name on the Stanley Cup from the 1989 champion Flames.

It’s too bad a contending team didn’t take a flier on Roberts for the playoffs. Part of me was hoping the Pens would claim him, but it wasn’t in the cards.

Congratulations on a great career Gary. Thanks for the memories.

Somebody pinch me…..please.

The Penguins have won six games in a row now after knocking off the Capitals 4-3 in a shootout Sunday. Should the game have gone to a shootout? Absolutely not.

The Penguins came out flatter than a day old open beer in the third period with a 3-1 lead and the Caps pounced scoring two goals in 49 seconds to tie the game. I was at Caps/Pens game at the Igloo on Oct. 16 and the same thing happened. The Pens had a 3-1 lead and gave up in the third period and lost 4-3. Thankfully they learned from that mistake this time around.

The shock from those two goals was rather apparent, seeing as how the team looked scared to be on the ice for most of the period after that. If not for a couple of powerplays, they may not have pulled this one out.

There was one scary moment late in the third period thanks to good pal Hal Gill. I have never been more proud of his poor puckhandling skills.

With under five seconds to play, Gill attempts to clear a bouncing puck out of danger in the slot. The key word there is “attempts.” Gill fires the puck to the endboards behind Marc-Andre Fleury and barely misses turning the red light on for the Capitals. Had he done that I would have needed a new television.

Here’s some notes from the game:

- Bill Guerin had three points (1G 2A) in the game today. The top line of Sidney Crosby - Chris Kunitz - Guerin is working rather well so far.

- The top powerplay unit is still a shade off from regaining the lethal form it once had. Guerin parking his wide frame in front of the net resulted in one goal tonight on a bomb from Sergei Gonchar. That’s a good sign if you ask me.

- Fleury had a roughly .950 save percentage before today’s game in March, which is a league high. He played spectacularly again today and came up huge in the shootout stopping Alex Ovechkin to win the game.

- Petr Sykora did not dress for this game due to “an upper body injury,” according to the Pitsburgh Tribune-Review. He is listed as day-to-day.

- The Penguins finish this pivitol five-game roadtrip with a perfect 5-0 record. That is a franchise best mark.

- The Bylsma Penguins are now 8-1-1. Not a bad start for the new coach.

- The win prevents a season series sweep by the Caps for the first time in history as well. The Caps have come close to sweeping the Pens a couple of times, but that record lives on for another year now.

The Penguins are making me do some extra work today in breaking down three goals against, but a couple of these are rather simple.

Goal #1 - Alexander Semin dekes around Fleury down low

Kris Letang is set up behind the net and attempts a long outlet pass intended for Evgeni Malkin. The pass fails miserably as he hits Nicklas Backstrom, who was applying pressure. Backstrom picks up the loose puck in the corner and hits Semin rushing into the slot to tie the game at 1-1.

Points assigned: Letang gets the full point for the awful outlet pass.

Goal #2 - Ovechkin Powerplay Goal

Mark Eaton blocks a shot in the slot. Brooks Laich picks up the loose puck and passes it back to Mike Green at the point. Green goes point-to-point to Ovechkin who takes a couple steps toward the net and fires a wrister behind Fleury. The puck appears to have gone off Gonchar, who was battling with Laich behind Fleury at the side of the net.

Points assigned: Max Talbot gets 0.5 for being too far away from his pointman (Ovechkin) and allowing him to get a higher percentage shot. Gonchar gets the other .5 for not getting body position on Laich and as a result of the battle, the puck hits Gonchar and goes in.

Goal #3 - Laich Breakway Off Bad Line Change

David Steckel catches the Pens in a horrific line change on defense and connects with Laich on the home-run pass. Laich walks in on Fleury and almost loses the handle on the puck, but puts on a nice move and roofs it behind Fleury to tie the game at 3-3.

Points assigned: 0.5 each to Letang and Eaton for the horrible line change. It was poorly executed and Washington made them pay as a result.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 4.84 - 9 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 11 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 12 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Sergei Gonchar - 3.25 - 10 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.83 - 12 GP
Brooks Orpik - 2.75 - 12 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 12 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 12 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 12 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 12 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 12 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 12 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

If the Penguins do go on to make the playoffs, they will be the best prepared team in the conference. Why? They have been playing playoff type hockey since the middle of February. They are approaching every game with a life or death mentality and it’s paying off.

Tonights 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers (the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference), was huge. The Rangers also won again tonight, so now there is a three-way tie for the 6-seed.

The Penguins are now one point out of 5th and four points out of fourth thanks to the Flames beating up on the Flyers tonight.

Dan Bylsma is making a serious push to drop the “interim” off his title if you ask me. The team is now 7-1-1 since he took over. Let’s also remember that the Pens have not been stellar on the road this season, and they now have won four straight on this five-game road trip. The trip concludes Sunday in Washington.

Some observations tonight:

- The top line of Bill Guerin - Sidney Crosby - Chris Kunitz will be a force. Their timing is just a hair off right now, but that’s to be expected. Give them a couple games and practices and things will start to flow much better. A sign of things to come would be Crosby’s goal tonight. Guerin hit him in stride and Sid does the rest by splitting the flat-footed defense.

- Some people will claim that the Pens got all the breaks in this game. I could see that to some degree. I don’t have the exact number of posts the Panthers hit tonight, but needless to say if a couple of those go in, who knows how the game turns out.

- Marc-Andre Fleury was brilliant when he needed to be. The lone goal against was kind of flukey. More on that later.

- Tyler Kennedy needs to shoot the puck more. I was unaware that he had as big a cannon as he does. Watch the highlights to see the bomb he dropped on Tomas Vokoun in the third period. His second goal on the one-timer tap-in from Evgeni Malkin was just plain pretty.

- I’m very excited to see Sergei Gonchar quarterbacking the power play with Malkin, Crosby, Petr Sykora and Guerin camping out in front of the net. Guerin might want to invest in a full cage for his helmet though. I love Gonchar’s shoot at will mindset, but his accuracy isn’t exactly perfect.

- The Panthers’ color guy (Denis Potvin I believe) needs an education. Kris Letang got drilled from behind in the second period and Cory Stillman received a penalty for charging. Keep in mind, the hit was FROM BEHIND. Is it a charging call? Debatable, but if you look up penalties in the rule book, you’ll see an infraction for “HITTING FROM BEHIND!”

He redeemed himself later by saying he hated the Penguins powder blue third jerseys. I concur. I don’t support this team any less because of the ugly third jerseys, but you won’t catch me wearing one.

- Hal Gill was actually effective tonight. At various points in the game he actually dropped to the ice to block a shot and succeeded. At another point the Panthers’ announcer claimed Gill hit someone in the corner. I still need video proof, but I like the effort. There was a play in the third period though, where he dropped to a knee and his man spun right around him and drilled the post. To quote Meatloaf “two outta three ain’t bad.”

Speaking of Hal Gill, it’s time to update the Hal Gill Quotient after tonight’s game. It’s normally a good day when I only have to break down one goal.

Goal #1 - Radek Dvorak fires puck off the bottom of the post, puck flutters into the air off Fleury and barely drops in over the line.

The Panthers dump the puck into the zone and Fleury comes out to play it and is forced to throw it to the near corner. Brooks Orpik is a coasting back into the zone and gets beat to the puck. Crosby chases his man around the net who feeds Dvorak who gets the fortunate bounce.

Points assigned - Orpik gets 0.5 for not hustling back to the puck. Letang gets 0.5 for letting Dvorak get complete body position on him and free to take the shot.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Hal Gill - 4.34 - 10 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 11 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Kris Letang - 3.34 - 8 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 2.75 - 9 GP
Brooks Orpik - 2.75 - 11 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.33 - 11 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 11 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 11 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 11 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 11 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 11 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

This to me means something big could be in the works if they are trying to free up some cap space before tomorrow’s deadline.

I will fully admit that before the season I really wanted the Penguins to sign him. I was using simple logic in that if you place a guy who has offensive talent on a line with Sidney Crosby, he should be in the vicinity of 65-70 points. Clearly, that is not the case with Satan.

At least the experiment is over. I would think that someone out there will claim him and take him off our hands, but the thought of him clearing waivers and being sent to Wilkes-Barre cracks me up.

Also placed on waivers, was former Penguin Chuck Norris…aka Gary Roberts. I wouldn’t be surprised if we tried to claim him, but something tells me he’s already played his last game in Pittsburgh.

He wanted no part of contract negotiations last summer, so I’m not expecting him to be back even though it would be fun to see the Igloo with WWGRD (What Would Gary Roberts Do) signs again.

Speaking of Crosby, he will not play tonight against the Lightning due to a sore groin. This will be the fourth straight game the Kid has missed. Do me a favor, if you see posts on message boards about him not in the lineup tonight meaning he’s being traded, just point them my way and I’ll set them straight.

Stay tuned for more developments as we see them. This is going to be a crazy 24 hours.

Which players?

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger and Minnesota Wild winger Marian Gaborik.

Now I’ll give you a few moments to let your brains try and comprehend seeing either of these two players in a Pens uniform.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

…….

Done? Good, because let’s analyze this strictly from a salary cap hit standpoint. Just for giggles, let’s use Eklund’s own salary cap central figures to further prove the absurdity of having either of these players. Even with prorated contracts and blah blah blah it doesn’t work out, but let’s look at this with the raw numbers shall we?

The Penguins team salary is $56,257,567 leaving $442,433 to remain under the cap. Pretty tight squeeze right? Let’s look at Pronger first.

Chris Pronger - $6.25 million with one year remaining.

In order for this deal to happen, the Penguins would need to at least get in the ballpark of salary going the other way. How do they get near $6.25 million?

Based on raw numbers, Miroslav Satan ($3.5 million) and Ruslan Fedotenko ($2.25 million) gets them close. However, there is no way the Ducks would trade for both of these guys considering their contracts run out at the end of the season.

So, shy of trading Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby this deal is moot.

The main objective so far appears to be getting a top 6 forward for Crosby’s line, so why would they consider trading away a couple forwards to get a defenseman when they are so obviously thin up front with scorers?

Also consider, the Penguins just traded with the Ducks last week to get Chris Kunitz! Why would they trade with the same team twice in a week?!

Moving on.

Marian Gaborik - $6.33 Million

Would I love to see a healthy Gaborik on the top line with Crosby? Umm, yes. You’d have to have no pulse in your body if that combo doesn’t give you chills. However, again according to the numbers that Eklund has on his site this cannot happen.

Who would the Pens give up to get Gaborik?

Jordan Staal? Probably, but he’s only making $2.2 million so combine that with the roughly $440K and we’re up to $2.6. Still roughly $4 million short. Satan and Fedotenko could be in play there too, but again they’d be giving up 3 forwards for just 1 in return. Maybe 2 if the Wild threw in someone like Derek Boogaard ($875,000).

What about Hal Gill ($2,075,000) or Mark Eaton ($2,000,000)?

Now you’re just fixing one problem and creating another by depleting the defense to add in some offense. What if instead of Boogaard the Wild sent back Marc-Andre Bergeron ($1,254,000) or Kurtis Foster ($1,025,000)?

The rumor before the season was dealing Staal and Ryan Whitney for Gaborik and something. That would have gotten the Pens to the magic number, but alas it didn’t happen and now it’s really not going to happen.

Trying to crunch the numbers on any of these deals is mind boggling and frankly not worth my time because these deals can’t happen unless Ray Shero blows up the team and feels like having three guys eating up 75% of the payroll next season.

Can I also just say that the Pens dealt for another Marian at last year’s deadline? We all know how that turned out. Learn from your mistakes Shero. Beware of Judas version 2.0.

Eklund also just reported that the Penguins have had discussions with San Jose about Jonathan Cheechoo.

I could very easily see Cheechoo coming to Pittsburgh based on cap space and who we have on the roster that could be traded. I can’t imagine the asking price would be very high for the one-time 56-goal scorer. With just 21 points on the season (9 goals, 12 assists) in 49 games, the Sharks may just want to unload him. Who knows?

Perhaps a deal of Cheechoo for Satan? Where do I sign?

Now I know that wouldn’t be the deal, but I’m allowed to dream.

Now another rumor I saw earlier tonight from Spector, states that the Penguins are interested in bringing back Jarkko Ruutu.

I can’t imagine the Pens would bring him back in after letting him walk after last season. Wouldn’t Shero have re-signed him last summer if he really wanted him back?

Don’t get me wrong, opposing teams would fear a line with Matt Cooke and Ruutu on it. Imagine two of the leagues’ biggest pests roaming the ice on the same line. Fun isn’t it?

The Pens play the Bolts Tuesday. Let’s keep an eye on the roster to see who’s normally in and who isn’t in the game.

Crosby may return from a groin injury that has held him out of the last three games as well. If he doesn’t play watch for message boards everywhere to say “CROSBY TRADED!” Obviously, he’s not going anywhere. Write it down.

I haven’t been able to use the words “win” and “streak” in the same sentence in a positive light in a long time.

This is the first time since the Penguins had a six-game win streak snapped in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Wild way back on Nov. 18, 2008. That’s a long time to go without making a statement if you ask me.

This was a game the Pens absolutely should have dominated and they did. The Stars were without Steve Ott, Brenden Morrow, Brad Richards and they gave Marty Turco the day off after starting 32 consecutive games.

The Pens wasted no time in getting on the board as Jordan Staal pounded home a rebound on a shot by Evgeni Malkin at 4:08 of the first period. These two need to play together more often. This goal was created off the rush during a line change, but it worked.

Keep that in mind Bylsma for when Sidney Crosby comes back from his groin injury.

With just over three minutes to play in the opening frame, Malkin led the rush into the Stars’ end and found Kris Letang streaking all alone on the nearside. Letang walked in clean and deked right around Tobias Stephan to put the Pens up 2-0.

How Letang was left that wide open and why Malkin had three defenders pull toward him is beyond me.

The Pens outshot the Stars 9-5 in the first, but completely controlled the play and pace. This new aggressive system seems to be working wonders and the players appear to be having fun playing in it.

The second period was a little different, but still yielded two Penguin goals by Miroslav Satan and Malkin on only four shots as a team

Satan picked off an outlet pass and walked around Stephan to put the road team up 3-0 at 8:18 of the period.

Just over four minutes later, Malkin was the recipient of a fortunate bounce off the boards on an attempted Dallas clearing attempt on the penalty kill. Malkin moved into the slot and buried it for his 29th goal of the season and third point of the game.

The three-point night gives Malkin 92 on the season and a ten point lead over Alex Ovechkin. Crosby is third with 79.

One of the big difference with this game as opposed to other games in recent history, is that the Pens didn’t blow a multi-goal lead. Against Chicago on Friday they blew a two-goal lead not once, but twice. More on that later in this post.

Their gap control was much better in this game too. They didn’t allow the Stars much time or space to get set up once they gained the zone. This was very much a dominant performance.

In the third period, the one and only Hal Gill took a brutal interference penalty when the puck was not even close to him. Marc-Andre Fleury can thank him for killing his shutout, because Chris Connor fed Loui Eriksson in the slot from behind the net and he made no mistake to cut the lead to 4-1.

Rob Scuderi forced Connor behind the net and Mark Eaton moved over to attempt to block the pass, but left Ericksson wide open as a result. I normally don’t assign points to people who take penalties, but in this case I will be because it was a stupid penalty that directly led to a goal. Gill gets .75 and Eaton gets .25 for not blocking the pass and allowing his man to score.

Now, as for the game Friday against Chicago that the Pens won 5-4 in OT thanks to a Malkin bomb on the powerplay. Here’s the four goals against:

Goal #1 - Jonathan Toews tips it past Fleury on a blast by Cam Barker.

Hawks win the draw clean back to Barker who unloads. Sergei Gonchar was parked in front of Fleury and allowed Toews to get body position and tip it past Fleury.

Points assigned: Staal .5 for losing the draw clean, .5 for Gonchar for letting his man get body position for the tip.

Goal #2 - Toews banks it in off Fleury’s skate on the powerplay

Pretty simple one to analyze here. Patrick Kane takes the puck along the half boards and fires it down low to Toews who attempts a pass across the crease to the wide-open man on the back door. However, Toews gets a little lucky in that he fanned on the pass and the puck goes off Fleury’s skate and in. Fleury takes the fall on this goal, but his movement was correct in trying to get over to the other post.

Points assigned - Gill and Scuderi were both in the vicinity of the puck and were unable to knock it away from Toews. Both receive .25. Fleury gets the other .5 for having it go in off him in that manner.

Goal #3 - Toews Hat Trick Goal

Fleury makes a solid save and the rebound is collected by the Hawks. The puck works its way back to the point where Barker tees up. Max Talbot is a little far from Barker, but still in the shooting lane. This forces Barker to make a slap pass to the back post to Toews who gets his hat trick goal. This was really his fourth goal of the game, but he had one called back in the second period for deflecting it with a high stick.

Points assigned - Gill 1.0 for two reasons. One, the man he was covering should have been Scuderi’s man and would have been had Gill not parked himself two feet from Fleury. The man he was trying to cover had clear body position on him rendering Gill useless.

Reason number two, Toews goes unchecked with a clear shot to the empty net behind Fleury. Gill didn’t even know Toews was there judging by his lack of reaction to the pass.

Goal #4 - Dave Bolland tips in a pass from Andrew Ladd on the back post

Again on the powerplay, but this time off the rush. Ladd throws the puck toward the net and somehow finds Bolland streaking to the cage with an empty net staring him in the face. Ruslan Fedotenko was coasting into the zone and realized his error in not heading to the open man (Bolland) way too late.

Points assigned - Fedotenko 1.0 for not hustling back on the 3-on-2 against to even up the rush and prevent his man from shooting the puck.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Hal Gill - 4.34 - 8 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 9 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Kris Letang - 2.84 - 6 Games Played
Mark Eaton - 2.33 - 9 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 2.25 - 8 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 9 GP
Brooks Orpik - 1.75 - 9 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 9 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 9 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 9GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 9 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP

Up next for the Pens on this road trip are the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Pens stormed back from 3-0 down against the Lightning the last time these two met. Let’s hope the Pens don’t need another furious third period to knock off one of the worst teams in the league.

It will also be the last game before the trade deadline on Wednesday. Rest assured, I’ll be watching to see who’s not in the lineup and try to find out why.