The Pittsburgh Penguins played a tough, physical, playoff type game today against the New York Rangers. The scoring was opened up by a power play goal by Rangers' forward Brandon Dubinsky (14) assisted by Jaromir Jagr and Christian Backman at 3:03 in the first period. Pittsburgh looked flat against the New York squad but that quickly changed when Georges Laraque delivered a massive hit on Rangers' defenseman Christian Backman midway through the first. Soon after, newly aquired Pittsburgh forward Marian Hossa blasted one home, his (29) at 10:21 in the first period. Assists came from Sidney Crosby and other newly aquired forward Pascal Dupuis. Still tied at 1, Ryan Malone of the Penguins drew a hooking penalty from defensman Fedor Tyutin of the Rangers. One minute and twenty-eight seconds later, Sidney Crosby tried splitting the defense and was slashed by Fredrick Sjostrom giving the penguins a 5 on 3. With 2 seconds remaining in the 5 on 3 Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin scored (46) assisted by Sergei Gonchar and Sidney Crosby. From then on the game was a defensive struggle with great penalty killing from both teams. The scoring drout ended late in the third when Maxime Talbot of the Penguins scored his (11) of the season assists coming from Jordan Staal and Rob Scuderi. Todays win was not just any regular season win, todays win put the Pittsburgh Penguins on top of the Easter Conference and eliminated the Rangers from winning the Atlantic division. Pittsburgh is now in the driver's seat in the east and control their own destiny. Tomorow there is a rematch of todays game in NYC at Madison Square Garden. With the 8th seed in the playoffs catching up with the Rangers, I expect a battle tomorow at the "Garden."
Side Notes: Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has been stellar since coming off his high ankle sprain. He had 26 saves today giving him 8 wins in his last 10 appearances. He now has 18 wins on the year with a .919 sv% and a 2.40 GGA.
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