Cam Shafted

Did anyone get the license plate number on that turbo charged Zamboni that steamrolled Hurricanes Nation last night? I'll take a stab and say the plate read "87-71". Superheroes extraordinaire, Crosby and Malkin, continue to play as the NHL's most dominant duo since a couple of black and gold clad guys named Lemieux and Jagr, as the Pens demolish the 'Canes 6-2 in Carolina.

The talks of all-world goaltender, Cam Ward, rescuing his team from the black death are slowly fading away, as the Pens' offensive juggernaut has lit the lamp an amazing 13 times in the last two games. All said, the Penguins are now sprinting towards the conference finish line, winning seven out of their last eight games, with three of the last four being complete blowouts.

The Wonder Twins attempt to explain their super powers

Some Elite Company

I did a little research based on a stat I heard on Vs. the other night. Did you know that behind Gretzky and Lemieux, the next two highest playoff points-per-games averages (career) belong to Crosby and Malkin? The only asterisk is that the minimum games played is 35, thus eliminating former Bruin and Canuck, Barry Pederson.

Click on this link, and you'll see the all time leaders. Very impressive company for our young guns.

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two big reasons why the Pens continue to draw comparisons to the 80's Edmonton Oilers

Memorial Performance

So, kudos to MP for playing a little Nostradamus and correctly predicting that Chris Kunitz would light the lamp last night. The only scoring slump longer than Kunitz's is my own (with the ladies), but I'm certain that MP's crystal ball has no insight in that...

Anyway, what a night for the home team. Our boys in black rolled the offense en route to their sixth playoff win in seven games. The 'Canes back is not yet broken, but I'm guessing that their chiropractor has been notified.

So, check out the replay on Malkin's sickness, if you're in the rare group of hermits who haven't seen it already. This image will be in Cam Ward's nightmares for the next, oh, 30 or so years...

Letang Rang

In my humble opinion, most every word that ends in "tang" is a good word. There's "mustang", the name of a cool horse and probably the most legendary sports car in American history, there's "Wutang", synonymous with the great 90's counter culture urban act Wutang Clan, and of course, there's "poontang", a word that strikes serious relevance with most, if not all, of my readers. Well, now we can add "Letang", as in, Kris Letang, Penguins' blue liner and reigning sportsman of the hour in the 'Burgh.

Letang's long distance game winner in OT last night, not only rescued the Flightless Birds from a potential sweep, but restored the waning confidence in both team and city. Overtime game winners of that length are generally reserved for the foot of Jeff Reed, but Letang dialed in a missile that will long be remembered. Hopefully, this is the pivotal play that the Pens need to rally in this series.

Let's also point out last night's re-emergence of Geno Malkin, who turned in an epic performance in the critical contest. Expect the Black and Gold machine to be humming on all cylinders come Friday night.

king for the next 48 hours

Taking Flight

So Sid Crosby gets injured and Evgeni Malkin leads the team on timely winning streak...sound familiar? Well, roll those clocks back and then forward again as a white hot Geno leads the Pen to their fifth win in six games as our flightless birds swim into the eighth seed yesterday with a battering of the Dallas Stars.

The Eastern Conference should take collective notice of this swell, as the Pens continually present the potential for an extended winning streak. Let's not forget the stellar week turned in by netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who's save percentage is sitting at a lofty .943 during a three game win streak.

As stated here before, a sixth seed or better is not unrealistic for a team as talent laden as the Pens.

QUICK HITTERS:

• So during the great Jeff Saturday ruse, we discovered one falsehood. When agent Ralph Cindrich stated that Saturday was a "Rooney kind of guy"...well, I'm not quite sure that the Rooney family covets players that leek false claims to the media in an effort to hold their team up for contract dollars. I hope Casey Hampton collapses Saturday's knee this year.


• Countdown is officially on for PittsburgFan posting #100.