After dealing with an unusually large amount of injuries, things are finally starting to look up for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a Carolina Hurricanes loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night, the Pens officially secured a spot in the playoffs. A shootout win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday extended their winning streak to four games (all wins the product of shootouts) and extended new forward James Neal's shootout success rate with the Penguins to 3-4. Perhaps the biggest and most exciting development for the team though is the slow but steady recovery their captain, Sidney Crosby, is making. Crosby, who's been out with a concussion due to a blind side hit by David Steckel during the Winter Classic, has been doing 30 minute morning skates regularly for the past two weeks giving fans added hope that he'll be healthy in time for the playoffs. The Penguins have proven that even without their two superstar players (Crosby and Evgeni Malkin who's out the rest of the season with a torn ACL) they can persevere and win important games like Thursday's game when they beat long time rivals and main competition in the eastern division, the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1. Hopefully they can duplicate the results on Tuesday night when they face the Flyers yet again.
(*cough* Bring it Pronger!)
(*cough* Bring it Pronger!)
