Pens win 7th in a row

Tonight the Penguins extended their current winning streak to 7 games in a row, and ran their record in the last 24 games to 19-4-1 by erasing a 2-0 deficit to beat Toronto 3-2.  The win gives the Penguins 85 points, the second most in the conference, and 15 more points than 9th place Washington.  Tonight was a night for the second line, as the top unit has cooled a bit, with Malkin's point streak ending tonight, and Neal has now gone 8 games without a goal.  No matter as Staal, Sullivan and Pascal Dupuis were dominant tonight as the second unit.  Incidentally, tonight was career game 300 for James Neal, and he is just one point shy of 200 career points.  At any rate, on to the game.  The first period was dominated by Pittsburgh, who outshot Toronto 11-3, but could not beat Gustavson and the period ended 0-0.  Then at 1:00 of the second period Phil Kessel gives Toronto a 1-0 lead after Tyler Bozak ran over Brad Thiessen, and Phil Kessel pounced on the rebound to give Toronto the lead.  Bozak may have been pushed into Thiessen, but given the similar goals Pittsburgh has had disallowed, that one bothered me.  Toronto up 1-0. At 7:36 the Leafs scored again to take a 2-0 lead. Then, at 9:25 of the period Pascal Dupuis scored his 16th goal of the season, assisted by Matt Niskanen (16) and Jordan Staal (14).  It is now 2-1 Toronto, and the period ended that way.   Early in the third, red hot Jordan Staal tied the game for Pittsburgh when he deflected a shot behind Gustavson for his 22nd goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2.  He was assisted by Brooks Orpik (13) and Pascal Dupuis (23).  After the goal, Jordan Staal has now scored 15 points in the 12 games since he returned from a knee injury, and he has never looked more dominant in all three zones.  He also won 13 of 18 faceoffs, to complete a dominant hockey game.  Anyway at 4:10 of the third period, the hero of the evening Pascal Dupuis scored his 17th goal of the season, assisted by Steve Sullivan (25) and Ben Lovejoy (3).  The Penguins were up 3-2, a lead they would not relinquish, giving Brad Thiessen his second career win in as many starts.  The second line carried the mail tonight wtih Staal having a goal and an assist, Sullivan an assist, and Dupuis with 2 goals and an assist.  The penalty kill was a perfect 4 for 4 and has now killed 51 of 53 penalties since February 1st.  Conversely, without Letang the power play is 0 for 13.  Brian Strait had another solid game in a call up role, and Ben Lovejoy was solid again for that matter.   The important thing is that  the Penguins keep finding ways to win.  Friday night brings the Florida Panthers.  Go Pens!!