The Penguins ninth straight victory today ran their record to 42-21-5, good for 89 points and only two points off of the division lead. The Rangers play tonight, and could restore a 4 point bulge with a victory. The Penguins came out today fast and physical, jumping on a Boston team who had to play yesterday afternoon with a furious forecheck that resulted in 3 goals on the first ten shots today. The third goal chased Thomas in favor of Marty Turco. With 3 assists today, Geno is again atop the league with 84 points, or 2 more than Steven Stamkos. He also got his 500th point today. James Neal with a goal and 2 assists earned his 200th point, 14th power play goal and broke a long goal scoring drought. Jordan Staal extended his scoring streak to 8 games with an assist today. Marc Andre Fleury earned his 37th victory to take his record to 37-14-3, his seventh straight victory as a starter. Fleury made 34 saves today on his way to a 18-2-1 record in his past 21 starts. The penalty kill came up big again today, killing both penalties it had to, making it 21 straight, and 54 of the past 56. The Penguins blue line stood up at the blue line today, and gave Boston trouble getting to its forecheck. Finally, after a two game sabbatical, the top line was dominant today, combining for 2 goals and 5 assists on the day. Now for the game. As noted the Penguins started fast and physical today. It did not take long for big game player Arron Asham to cash in on his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Lovejoy (4) and Adams (9) at 3:24. Asham who was big for the Flyers in their run to the Finals two years ago, and the Penguins top goal scorer in their one round of playoffs last year, is again heating up at the right time. Pens lead 1-0. After the Pens killed a very questionable interference call, the Penguins struck again at 7:12, when Matt Niskanen scored his 4th goal, assisted by Malkin (44) and Neal (33). The assist was Malkin's 500th career point. This makes Geno only the 17th Russian born player to hit this plateau. Pens lead 2-0. Neal's assist was his 200th career point, a milestone for him as well! At this point I have to just express my desire to stick my foot right up Edzo's candy ass until he is burping Reebok rubber. At any rate, after a couple of Boston penalties, the Penguins finally cashed in on a power play without Kris Letang, when the Real Deal James Neal scored his 14th power play goal 5 on 3 at 18:48 of the period, his 31st goal of the year assisted by Evgeni Malkin (45). The Pens go up 3-0. The period ended that way. Early in the second period, the Penguins made a mistake which gave life to Boston. A falling Brooks Orpik turned the puck over in the neutral zone, Tyler Seguin hit a streaking David Krejci who blew by Ben Lovejoy and burned Fleury over his left shoulder at 1:56 of the period. Penguins lead 3-1. But at 4:27 Chris Kunitz answered with his 20th goal of the season, assisted by Neal (34) and Malkin (46). This restored the 3 goal lead at 4-1. At 10:01 Krejci got the Bruins back on the board to make it 4-2 Pittsburgh. Despite sloppy play the rest of the period, the Penguins ended the period up 4-2. The third period felt like a lifetime, and at times it really felt like the Pens were holding on by the skin of their teeth, but at 16:07 Pascal Dupuis ended all doubt, by poking the puck past Milan Lucic at the top of the slot after settling a pass from Jordan Staal. Duper used his speed to bear down on Turco before flipping a backhander past the netminder to secure the 5-2 Penguins victory. The goal was Duper's 18th of the season, assisted by Jordan Staal (16) and Deryk Engelland (12). The Penguins out muscled the Bruins today, getting under their skin and creating situations where the Bruins were taking frustration penalties. There were several more that could have been called as well. It was not a great game in some ways for Pittsburgh as the second period and part of the third were marred by sloppy play, but the Pens did what they had to to put away a tired Boston team with an impressive physical display. It was another game where Simon Despres looked right at home on the big stage. Also Eric Tangradi was a plus 2 and added a physical edge to the game for the Penguins. Pascal Dupuis has 18 goals this season, and makes 1.5 million per year. He also adds great intangibles and a tremendous penalty killing element to this Pittsburgh team. Contrast that to another 18 goal man, Alexander Semin, who earns 6.7 million per year, adds nothing positive in terms of intangibles and plays as soft as a baby's ass. The Penguins are now 21-4-1 since January 13th, the game they beat Florida after the team wore fake C's in a show of solidarity for injured captain Sidney Crosby. The Penguins are 24-8-2 now at home this season. Another intersting statistic is the fact that the Penguins are 23-0-2 when leading after two periods. The Penguins top line has scored 77 points in their past 22 home games with Kunitz getting 7G and 9A, Neal getting 7G and 16A, and Evgeni Malkin getting 18G and 20A! Finally, the Penguins are now 60-32-9 in their last 101 games without Sidney Crosby. A Rangers loss will make Thursday night's tilt possibly a battle for Eastern Conference supremacy! The game could mark the return of Sidney Crosby as well. Let's Go Pens!
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