Penguins 5, Panthers 1

Wow. Tonight, the Penguins kicked the crap out of the Panthers from one end of the ice to another. It wasn't even all that competitive - once the Penguins took the ice for the start of the second period, up 2-0, they netted a short-handed goal and never looked back (more on the shortie later).

Sidney Crosby was great tonight, netting just the second four point night of his career. He
now has 91 points on the season, I believe, in his quest to reach 100. Okay - it isn't really Sidney's quest - he couldn't care less, by his own admission. But Bob Errey sure does like to talk about it, so it's worth mentioning here. For someone who probably should have hit the rookie wall, he's playing awfully well. Could we expect anything less from Sid?

Everyone played well tonight. I did notice a few things specifically:

• We're really starting to see why we paid Gonchar all that money. I think he's going to be the cornerstone of that blue line for years to come in Pittsburgh.
• We're also being treated to a great effort by Ryan Malone lately, who added another short-handed goal tonight. I'm really glad we kept him around at the trade deadline - he'll be really valuable next season.
• Ryan Whitney is quickly becoming the player who should bring the puck up the ice on the power play. He's really stepping up, and considering this is only his rookie year, he's really only going to get better.
• Caron is making a great case for finding a way to dump Thibault before next season. Not sure how I feel about that one yet, but Caron is making the most of his opportunities.
  

It was a great win, but the Pens are now only one point behind the Blues, who have lost 12 straight games (3 in OT). I'd really rather see the Pens finish last, so they're guarenteed one of the top two picks...

EDIT - ya know, you read your own article the next morning, and see something that says "more on the shortie later" and then there's nada, zippo, zilch... and you wonder what you were thinking when you wrote it (or IF you were thinking...) What I wanted to say is that there have been several signs of the Apolcalypse this season (Roy scores a game winner, Surovy fights, etc), but this one tops them all - the Penguins scored TWO short-handed goals in the same game. That goes to show how far this team has come, when previously, we'd be silently hoping they didn't get awarded any power plays, for fears they'd give up a shortie... back to the original article, already in progress :)

Anyway, I do have a few other thoughts, but it's past my bedtime :)

Game tomorrow against Tampa Bay. Short turnaround - let's see if the Pens can beat another team to hurt their playoff chances.

Let's Go Pens!