Pens lose in OT 3-2 to Leafs

There have been some games during this stretch of play with so many injured players where I feltgood about the Penguins getting a point. Tonight is not one of them. The Penguins, despite taking too many penalties AGAIN outplayed the Leafs for two periods, and really dominated for the last 12 minutes of the second period, allowing Toronto only one shot in that time frame. They took a 2-1 lead into the third, but the team that has made its bones by outworking their opponents looked like they lost their edge in the third period, barely making it to overtime. Then they lasted less than one minute before allowing a tic tac toe goal to lose out on the extra point. I almost forget what a win in regulation looks like. The Penguins have an important month ahead, with 13 games left in the month, 8 of which come against teams in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, including 2 against Philadelphia, 2 against New Jersey, one against Boston, the Rangers, Buffalo, and Tampa. The points won or lost in those games will play a major role in whether the Penguins make the playoffs and with what seeding. The Penguins are getting healthy again, so........wait a minute. That tells you how bad a season this has become when I can say that the Penguins are getting healthy when Kunitz, Crosby Malkin, Orpik, Asham, and Tangradi are all out with injuries. At any rate, some post game observations:

Matt Niskanen right now is the best of the three new Penguins. He was the "throw in" who looks right at home on the Penguins blue line. He has been solid defensively, excellent with the break out pass, and tonight he scored a goal and an assist. He has been noticeable for good reasons in each of his games as a Penguin with the exception of the breakaway he gave up against San Jose;

Don't get frustrated with James Neal. You can see the heavy shot, good skating, back checking, and physical play. He is a straight line, go to the net power forward who is not a creative playmaker. He will thrive with Crosby or Malkin at center making plays for him to finish. I think he would do better with Dustin Jeffrey centering his line than Mark Letestu. Give it time, Neal is the real deal;

Alex Kovalev was kind of disappointing tonight;

I am a huge Staal fan, but he needs to step up and take more of the load offensively during this time without the big guns;

Fleury was strong tonight, bouncing back nicely from a poor game on Saturday;

Joffrey Lupul is a heckuva hockey player as is Luke Schenn;

Paul Martin is a beast;

Orpik is missed;

I am not a fan of Ben Lovejoy really;

The next three games are against New Jersey, Boston, and Buffalo, all big games relative to their playoff hunt. Time to bring it.