Ye of Little Faith

Go find that Chicken Little for me and tell him to stick it in his beak.  After a three game, six point swing in four days, Dan Bylsma and his 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins have assured us that the white fluffy stuff falling on our heads is, in fact, not the sky after all.  Sure, I was amongst the numerous writers that forecasted potential doom for the flightless birds and their soft spoken skipper, but hey, that was four days ago, and seemingly another lifetime in the fickle world of professional sports.

The Pens have been simply dominant this week, outscoring three conference nuisances by a collective 14-4.  Along the way, the Pens finally put the energy back into Consol Energy with a resounding February 2 whooping of the Jersey Devils.  Perhaps the shadow that old Punxsy Phil saw was that of Marty Brodeur's backside as he flopped and flailed futilely as five Penguin pucks skimmed past him.  The Pens feasted again 24 hours later, cranking it up to the tune of six goals this afternoon.  Unsung gritter Chris Kunitz notched his first hatter since, well, maybe ever, to cap a six point weekend.  That point tally is nearly a month's worth of production by career numbers for Kunitz, who also managed a #2 star and a #1 star for the weekend games.

With twelve points and a 6-3 record our Pens now find themselves atop the Atlantic Division as the grind of the compressed season is kicking in.  What was once a slumping bunch has now become a focused and dangerous hockey team, playing strong in all areas of their game.  An attribute of a great sports team is the ability to recognize adversity and step up to answer the challenge.  Here's to hoping that the Penguins of the last four days are the great team that we hoped we'd see.