"In the Absence of..."

Written by Chris Wassel | 23 March 2008

The Pittsburgh Penguins have just come off a 7-1 victory over division rivals, the New Jersey Devils, to take the lead in the Atlantic, and second overall in the Eastern Conference, in the absence of Sidney Crosby.

The number one line of Evgeni Malkin, Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone had another very big game.   Malkin scored 2 goals and 1 assists, Malone also scored two goals, and Sykora had one goal and 2 assists, in the absence of Sidney Crosby.

Marian Hossa, the anointed winger for Sidney Crosby, had three assists, in what became a blood bath, in the absence of Sidney Crosby.

Jarkko Ruutu scored the first goal after another opponent felt we needed the help and shot a centering pass from Ruutu directly at Martin Broduer and found the five hole to give the Pens a 1-0 lead less than 2 minutes into the game.  The two teams traded short-handed goals, to make the score 2-1 after two periods, before the black and gold decided to take control, in the absence of Sidney Crosby.

The Devils hadn’t allowed more than five goals in a game this season, but leaked in that many in the third period.  This was the second game of back-to-back games and the team did look a little uninspired in the third.   Broduer was pulled to allow Kevin Weekes the opportunity to bloat his GAA, in the absence of Sidney Crosby.

All in all it was a very good game, against an opponent that has ruled the Atlantic division.   The Penguins have a poor division record this year and the final seven games are all against teams sitting just below them in the rankings of said division.  The final two games will be a home and away series with the hated Philadelphia Flyers, who may still be fighting for their playoff lives.  It will be a great gut check heading into the playoffs.

We'll see how good this team really is.

In the absence of Sidney Crosby.