The game tonight left a lot of room for commentary, and added up to a lot of milestones worth discussion. First off, it gave the Penguins a 45-21-6 record, good for 96 points and second in the conference, only one point behind the Rangers again. It also opened up a four point lead on Philadelphia who lost to Florida tonight. The Penguins have a game in hand on Philly also. It was second straight game that the Penguins hung 8 goals on the Jets this season. The win also marked the 8th straight for Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Center, the longest winning streak in the new building. Kennedy who had been held goal less in 18 games, scored two goals tonight. Matt Cooke had 2 assists tonight, giving him 4 goals and 2 assists in 4 games with Crosby. Not too bad! Also Pascal Dupuis, or should I say Super Duper scored his career high 21st goal of the season, extending his career high scoring streak to 7 games (6G-3A), and giving him 8 goals in his past 12 games. Brad Thiessen who turned 26 yesterday is now 3-0 in his 3 NHL starts, but tonight was not a good night for him. Evgeni Malkin scored his 200th career NHL goal tonight as well, while recording 5 points (2G-3A), on the way to his 20th multi-point game of the season, and fourth 5 point game. Malkin's 4th 5 point game makes him the first player to record that many since Lemieux (6) and Forsberg (4) in the 1995-1996 season! James Neal scored his second career hat trick tonight, and had a career high four points. It was also Neal's 18th multi-point game of the year this season. In addition, Sidney Crosby had four assists tonight, giving him 19A in 12 games played, to go with 2 goals. However, his 11 games without a goal is the longest goalless streak of his career. To emphasize how important Crosby has been to the Penguins since his return, he has assisted on 9 of the 20 goals the Penguins have scored since his return, and 7 of those are primary assists. Cooke and Kennedy are suddenly piling up points playing with Crosby. For those who were worried the return of Crosby would hurt Malkin, chew on this. Malkin has 9 points including 5G and 4A since Crosby returned. Jordan Staal had an assist tonight as well, giving him 11A in his past 12 games. The five points for Malkin tonight gives him 93 points for the season, a 9 point lead on Steven Stamkos and Claude Giroux for the Art Ross Trophy. Malkin, Crosby, and Neal combined for 13 points tonight! As for the game it was a quick paced up and down game for both teams.
Scoring Summary:
At 2:04 of the first period, Tyler Kennedy scored his 7th goal of the season after Crosby fed him from behind the net. Crosby got his 16th assist as did Cooke on the play. The Penguins were up 1-0. A little over a minute and a half later the Jets tied the game when a puck went off of Slaters skate and behind Thiessen to tie the game at 1-1. After an inadvertant high stick by Malkin resulting in a four minute minor, Bryan Little gave the Jets the lead at 12:51 scoring a power play goal to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. The Penguins tied the game at 16:44 on the power play when James Neal scored his 33rd of the year assisted by Malkin (48) and Crosby (17) on a great tic tac toe play. The goal was Neal's 15 PPG of the season, giving a tie with Hartnell atop the NHL in power play goals. The period ended 2-2.
At 1:15 of the second period, James Neal scored his 34th goal of the season from Evgeni Malkin (49) to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. It was a great of example of not quittig on a play. Malkin got his own rebound from behind the net, and found Neal who hammered it home. Then at 3:54 of the period, Little tied the game again at 3-3. Then at 6:55 of the period Crosby fed Tyler Kennedy in front of the net and Kennedy scored his 8th of the season, while Crosby (18) and Cooke (17) collected assists on the play. The Penguins retake the lead at 4-3. At 11:31 of the period, Malkin scored his 42nd goal of the year, assisted by Crosby (19) and Martin (22). The goal was the 200th of Malkin's career and a power play goal. The Penguins are now up 5-3. At 14:39 Stapleton drew the Jets to within one goal at 5-4. The Penguins answered again however, as James Neal collects his hat trick and 35th goal of the year off a great feed by Malkin (50) and Orpik (14) at 17:39. Neal hammered this puck from a tough angle to restore a 2 goal bulge at 6-4. The period ended with the Penguins up 6-4.
Then again, early in the period, Evgeni Malkin put one in behind Mason banking it off of him for his 43rd goal of the season, assisted by Kunitz (28) and Neal (37) to give the Penguins a 7-4 lead on the night. Then at 13:27 Pascal Dupuis scored his career high 21st goal, assisted by Jordan Staal (19) and Steve Sullivan (26). The Penguins were up 8-4, and that is how the game ended.
Hey, it was not the best game defensively for Pittsburgh tonight. Paul Martin seemed to regress to the Paul Martin we saw earlier in the season, as he was on the ice for all four Jets goals, and played a big part in 3 of them. Thiessen was so so in the net. However, the firepower and scoring depth provided by the addition of Crosby, and the corresponding goal scorig by Cooke and Kennedy is impressive. Especially when you consider the fact that the Malkin/Neal/Kunitz line is the top line in hockey and the Staal/Sullivan/Dupuis line features two twenty plus goal scorers. Adding the consistent scoring from the Crosby/Cooke/Kennedy line give opponents plenty to think about. The Penguins face a red hot Nashville team who features the best goaltender in hockey, a strong defense, and probably the return of Alexander Radulov from the KHL. This match up is a possible Stanley Cup Finals preview that should be entertaining for all to see. LETS GO PENS!
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