Penguins run streak to 4 in a row beating NYR 4-1

Ok, at times I can be accused of being a little over the top when things are going either very well or very bad.  And at the risk of being accused of that again, I am going to say that tonight's win at the Garden might be one of their biggest regular season wins in a long time.  Yeah, it was important to get the two points that has the team in 6th place in the conference right now.  It also kept a nice win streak alive.  To me though, this was a signature win for a team that has had a LOT of difficulty beating the top teams in the conference such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.  This win was BIG.  The Penguins came into a hostile environment, against the team leading the NHL in points, weathered a fired up and physical Rangers team who tried to get Malkin off his game by hitting him a lot after the whistle.  The Penguins did not take the bait.  They played a clean physical game in return, and then fed the Rangers their asses in a critical third period that started out 1-1.  It surely does not mean that the Penguins have "arrived" but it ain't a bad sign either folks!  The game started off well for the Penguins again with Chris Kunitz netting his 14th goal of the year to open the scoring at 3:16 of the first period.  The goal broke an 8 game goal scoring drought for Kunitz, and it came off of a rebound of a Paul Martin shot, Martin's 13th assist, and James Neal (17).  Penguins lead 1-0.  The period ended that way.  In the second period, Hagelin tied it at 10:06 and the period ended in a 1-1 tie.  The third period was owned by the Penguins.  At 2:23 of the period Richard Park put the Penguins ahead for good scoring his 4th goal of the season on a great rush assisted by Deryk Engelland (9) and Matt Cooke (8). Engo made a great feed to allow Park to blast a shot past Lundqvist.  The goal was Park's second in three games.  Penguins lead 2-1.  Then at the 7:10 mark, Malkin takes a puck off a misplay by Marc Staal and puts a wicked backhander past Lundqvist for his 23rd goal of the season!  Kris Letang collected his 20th assist on the play.  Welcome back Tanger!  The Penguins are now up 3-1.  The Penguins PK unit killed off a Rangers power play with about 8 minutes left, and Malkin got the empty netter his 24th goal of the year, assisted by James Neal (18) and Chris Kunitz (17).  The goal cemented the win for the Penguins, and put Malkin atop the NHL with 54 points, 2 ahead of Sedin. Malkin has now scored 6 of the last 8 Penguins goals!  He has 9 goals in his past six games, and is just playing lights out in all three zones.  Malkin is now tied with James Neal to lead the Penguins in goals at 24, and they are tied for fourth in the league overall behind Stamkos (31), Toews (26), and Kessel (25).  Tough to ask for more from 71, or the top line right now!  How about Kris Letang?  In his first action since suffering a broken nose and concussion on 11/26, and with only 3 practices since being cleared to practice, Tanger would ease back into action right?  Ah, no.  Letang led the Penguins in ice time at 24:17, he had an assist, 3 shots, 3 hits, and was a plus 2.  Tough to overstate what 58 means to this team.  When Orpik and Letang play together, they BOTH elevate their games, and complement each other.  With Michalek and Martin starting to play as a unit, the Penguins are starting to gel on the blue line despite all of their injuries.  The third pairing of Engelland and Niskanen are no joke either.  Niskanen, with 16 points is second on the team in points for a defenseman, and is playing to a plus 11.  He has been consistently solid all year.  Engelland, viewed last year as a physical player, but possible weak link has been much improved in every facet of his game. He still provides that nasty edge to the backend, but also has a career high 11 points in 40 games.  Not bad for a 6th Dman, known more for punching and hitting than for contributing on the score sheet.  And how about Marc Andre Fleury?  He has now appeared in 19 straight games, and collected 23 of the Penguins 25 wins!  He is 4th in that category in the league, and though his GAA of 2.20 is 9th in the league and his .915 save percentage is 25th, Fleury has been there for the Penguins when they need him, and right up there with Neal and Malkin as big reasons the Penguins are in the race right now.  Great job by Flower.  The Penguins are now 25-17-4, and have climbed to 6th place in the conference, only 4 points behind the Flyers for the 4th spot.  They have weathered a long losing streak, and came out of it guns blazing.  They are playing a more physical brand of hockey, and it seems to have energized the whole team.  One concern right now is the need for some secondary scoring from guys like Cooke, Jeffrey, and Dupuis.  I want to close with some commentary on Malkin.  I have at times been critical of Geno's attention to detail, focus, and leadership relative to his cap hit since the 2009 season.  I still think that at those times, those feelings were justified.  That said, I am equally blown away by his contributions this season, and most importantly, in the recent turn around of the team. His scoring streak is well documented, so I will focus on little things that seem to indicate he is becoming the leader of this team.  He is playing HARD and SMART in all three zones, he is blocking shots, he is NOT taking stupid retaliatory penalties that hurt the team, and he has been one of the main post game spokesmen for the team of late.  His English still makes those interviews an adventure in some ways, but Malkin's availability for them, and the content of those interviews show a much more mature Malkin who seems to be willing and able to carry the team on and off the ice.  When asked about his two points tonight making him the NHL scoring leader, Malkin said that the two points the TEAM got were more important than his two points.  Fucking eh Geno!!  Time to jump 2 opponents at the Consol who usually give us a tough time in Montreal and Washington.  Go Pens!!