Jordan Staal!!

Whew........big sigh of relief.............after a big win last night in Calgary, I looked at the schedule and thought we are playing Edmonton, 1-11-1 in their past 13 games, while short some key players like Hemsky, Khabibulin, and Comrie, this should be an easy 2 points.......when I saw that they were playing Dubnyk, 0-2-0 with a GAA of 4.46 and a save percentge of something like .839, it seemed like a gimme game for the defending champs trying to right the ship, no? You had to figure that the Pens would come out flying, pepper the young goalie with rubber, and demoralize them early in a laugher, right? Well, several minutes into the third period the Pens were down 2-0, and they looked destined to add an additional low light to a three week stretch with MANY of them. Enter Jordan Staal! After winning a face off in the offensive zone, Staal wins a battle in the corner to retrieve the puck, feeds it to Kennedy and the lifeless flightless Birds were only down 2-1, and they had a life for the first time all night. With Malkin about as effective this season as a rusty razor, Staal has been a critical component to the offense of this team. Late in an ensuing power play, Staal takes a shot that results in a rebound for Matt Cooke to put in the net, and after a mostly lifeless game, the Pens are now tied! Next, Staal again wins a battle behind the net, and puts it in front for Pascal Dupuis who puts it behind Dubnyk for what proved to be the GWG!! Dupuis made a great play coming hard on the forecheck, Staal wins the battle for the loose puck and puts it in the crease for Duper to put home. I am hopeful that this game can be the type of game that is a spring board for this team to go on a nice winning streak, and challenge for a top spot in the Eastern Conference. There were several good signs:

Marc Andre Fleury was very good again.........after giving up 2 goals to THIS team, he could have had a let down, but instead he got VERY stout and kept the Pens in the game until they could actually get their legs;

Despite not scoring AGAIN, I will say that for the second game in a row Malkin looked alive, despite more blue line turnovers and really DUMB penalty, for the first time in a couple of weeks, I can envision Geno getting a goal;

The Penguins got a goal on their PP again, AND it came from the second unit, on, yes, a REBOUND, not some fancy behind the back pass;

Kennedy gets a goal, and maybe that will get him started again;

They got solid secondary scoring with Cooke and Dupuis both getting goals, taking some of the heat off of Sid;

Ben Lovejoy looks VERY comfortable on the blue line, and could provide them with some additional options on the back end;

Finally, after looking like chumps for most of the first two periods, they responded like CHAMPS and got the two points they needed............The Pens are now 3-1 on this road trip, with a game against a very good Vancouver team coming up on Saturday night. A win there would make this road trip reminiscent of the road trip last winter that got the ball rolling for the Pens!