The Penguins end the season on a high note, wining their 8th of the final 10 games, and their 24th on the road, which ties a franchise record set up the '92-'93 Penguins, who won the Presidents Trophy. Their 106 points is the second most in franchise history, and ties them for third in the entire league, despite finishing 4th in the conference. This is due to division winners getting the top 3 seeds. Not bad for a team that did not have its top 3 forwards on the ice together for more than 4 periods for the season. The Penguins record for the season finished 49-25-8, and their 49 wins were most in the conference, ahead of Washington with 48, and Philadelphia with 47. Only President's Trophy winner Vancouver had more wins than Pittsburgh with 54. Given the number of man games missed by STAR players, if this does not get Dan Bylsma the Jack Adams Award, as Coach of the Year, something is wrong. The Penguins finished tied for the Division lead in points with Philadelphia, but the Flyers win the Divsion based on another example of NHL stupidity. Despite going to shootouts as a way to get a winner in every regular season game without lenghty overtime stints, the NHL decides to not count them as wins in ties situations for seeding. Don't get me wrong, the Flyers are deserving champions of the Atlantic basedon their better head to head record with the Penguins, and my congratulations to them for it. They probably had a better record in the division as well, so I am not disputing that this Flyers team deserves the title. I am simply stating that it may not have wound up that way, and to me, if you put in a method to determine a winner, than a win is a win. Do you discount games that you were behind all game, and sneak a win at the end? Anyway, the right team got the Atlantic, but this Penguins team with all of its adversity was tied for the third most points in the league, and that to me is worthy of high praise indeed. The Stanley Cup is what matters, but I can tell you that regardless of the post season outcome, this Penguins team will be one of my favorites in history. Anyway, after surrendering a 5 on 3 power play goal, the Penguins exploded in the second period for four goals. Tyler Kennedy, netted his 21st, a power play goal to tie the game. I liked seeing Eric Tangradi parked right in front of the goaltender! Pascal Dupuis, who has finished with 8 points in his last 10 games, gave the Penguins a lead they would never give up with his 17th goal of the season. On that note, Duper finishes with 17 goals, despite losing his centerman, struggling for a month and half, and getting almost no power play time. Add to that his four line versatility, and I hope they find a way to keep this guy. Also, he and Talbot seem to have some chemistry together, so I look forward to their playoff work together. Mike Rupp made it 3-1, on a weird play started by Godard who has scored points in consecutive games for the first time since 2005. Rupp has had 4 points including two goals in his past 2 games, heating up just in time for the playoffs. Could not happen to a nicer guy! Another guy I hope they bring back next season. Mark Letestu made it 4-1 on his 14th goal of the season, and the rout was on. After the Thrashers closed to 4-2 with just under 7 mintutes left in the game, Comrie gets his first goal of the season into an empty net to give us our final score of 5-2. Some of other thoughts from today's game. Ben Lovejoy had a big night with 3 assists, and he just got better and better as the season went on. The power play, though still not stellar has scored a goal in each of the past three games, thought the PK gave up two goals tonight. One was a 5 on 3, and the PK unit was without Staal, and Cooke, so I am not overly worried. They should finish the season as the number one PK unit in the league for the first time in franchise history. The oft maligned Tyler Kennedy, along with Chris Kunitz were the two most valuable Penguins after Fleury in the absence of the Penguins star power. TK finished the season with 21 goals and 45 points, factoring in on 9 of the past 13 power play goals this team has scored. He may have priced himself out of Pittsburgh, but I hope not. Kennedy wound up 5th on the team in scoring and 4th in goal scoring........did the invisible man Kovalev play today???...Did you know that since he shit the bed in October that Marc Andre Fleury has won 35 games, the most in that time frame, and posted a 2.16GAA and 9.25 save percentage....the Penguins were 41-17-7 in that stretch.....we may seen the last of Eric Godard in a Penguin uniform....and despite the fact that I agree that we need to put that money into retaining some of the other key veterans, Godard filled his role as well as it could be filled, always willing to defend his teammates.....I will be a Godard fan for the rest of his career....... Finally, Kris Letang and Max Talbot were the only two Penguins to have played in all 82 regular season games. So, one of the strangest and at times frustrating and at other times exhilirating seasons comes to a close. Would you have thought that the Penguins would have the third best record in the league when Fleury looked like a minor league goaltender in October? How about when Crosby was lost for the season, then Malkin? Or when they fielded a lineup with 7 of their 12 forwards being players from their AHL affiliate? Conversely, have you felt less sure of a deep playoff run from a team that finished so high in the league's standings? As always, the playoffs will tell the tale of the overall season, and they start in a matter of days. I would like to congratulate and thank this team for giving us all a season full of thrills despite what at times seemed like never ending doses of adversity. Their heart and battle level of this team is unbelievable, and I hope that they can convert that into a deep playoff run this spring. Thanks again Pens, and best of luck in the second season. We will be with you every step of the way.
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