Celebrating 80 Years of Service to LIU

It’s March and there is reason to be
excited in Pittsburgh.
No, it’s not because the Pirates are currently
tied for first. No, ESPN Classic
isn’t replaying the Steelers five Super
Bowl victories.
The Penguins look to be the legitimate
powerhouse of the Eastern Conference.
With less than a month to go, the birds
of steeltown are on a role, clawing their
way up the standings and battling the New
Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadians for
first place. As of Monday morning, there
is only one point separating the top three
teams. The Devils got to this position
thanks to Martin Brodeur, one of the best
goalies to ever wear the pads. The
Canadians have done it with consistent
play, and a little help from the free falling
Senators.
The Penguins worked their way into
contention without two of their young
stars, including the best player currently
playing the game.
On Jan. 18, Sidney Crosby went down
with a high ankle sprain in a game against
the Tampa Bay Lightning. A month earlier,
the same injury took out goalie Marc-
Andre Fleury. The Penguins were leading
their division, but were seven points back
of the Eastern leading Senators. Hockey
fans would’ve understood if the Penguins
fell off a little and were battling for the
sixth and seventh spot in the final month.
But they didn’t. What Pittsburgh did
was continue their pace and go 12-7-5 in
the absent of the two No. 1 picks Crosby
and Fleury. Thanks in part to two men.
When Crosby went down, someone had
to jump up and take the Penguins on his
back. That man was Evgeni Malkin. The
Russian, who currently sits second in
Sports
The Birds of Steel Town Poised for Run at the Cup
By Aaron Isaac Feldstein
Editor-In-Chief
Marc-Andre Fleury had 36 saves in Sunday’s win over the Capitals.
(Photo Credit: Michael Layton/Getty Images)
points behind Alexander
Ovechkin, had 15 goals and
22 assists in the absence of
the “Next Great One.” The
21-year-old showed the
NHL why Pittsburgh spent
its second pick in the draft
on Malkin. In a game
against in-state rival
Philaselpha, Malkin had a
one-goal, three-assist night
and proved he could also
make the players around
him better.
Malkin is among the
league leaders in most categories.
The center out of
Magnitogorsk is fourth in
the league in goals (38),
second in points (92), third
in assists (54) and seventh
in power play goals (13).
While Malkin was picking
up the slack on the front
lines, someone had to man
the net and take a little bit
of pressure of the Russian.
That man was Ty
Conklin.
Conklin didn’t see much action at the
beginning of the season, and even when
Fleury went down, the Alaskan-born
goalie didn’t see significant ice time until
Dec. 20 against Boston. In that game he
made 37 saves, but gave up four goals.
Then, in the shootout, he stopped two
Bruins shots and earned his first win of
the year.
Since then, he has stopped everything
in his path. Conklin has a 17-6-5 record
when he guards the goal, is only allowing
2.35 goals against per game and has a save
percentage of .928, top in the NHL. This
is the most significant ice time that
Conklin has seen since the ’03-’04 season
with Edmonton. That year he played in 38
games with 17 wins. He has matched that
total in 11 fewer games this season.
As well as these two have done, the
Penguins couldn’t be happier to have their
two stars back in
the mix.
Last Sunday,
Pittsburgh took to
the ice to play the
team that will likely
be their nemesis
for the next
decade, Ovechkin
and his
Washington
Capitals. This was
the third game that
Crosby, Malkin
and Fleury have
been on the ice at
Seawanhaka
Sidney Crosby had his first two goals Sunday since returning from an ankle injury.
(Photo Credit: Michael Layton/Getty Images)
the same time.
Crosby scored 1 1/2 goals on Sunday,
getting a little assist on an own-goal by
the Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom. This
ended up being the game-winning score.
In his third game back since the ankle
injury, coach Michael Therrien was happy
with his star’s performance.
“There’s no athlete that could come
back to competition after such a long time
being out of the game,” said Therrien.
“There’s no doubt tonight that was the
best performance I’ve seen since he’s
been back.”
In 11 meetings between Ovechkin and
Crosby, the man known around the league
as “Sid the Kid” has the upper hand winning
10 of 11.
Fleury has a pretty good record against
the Capitals as well. In seven games, he
has yet to lose one. Since returning from
his injury, the No. 1 pick in 2003 has won
all three games in which he played goal
for the entire game. In those three games,
he has averaged 34 saves per game. On
March 4 against the Lightning, he earned
his third shutout of the season with 35
saves.
All the elements are in place for the
Penguins to make a run. But management
also knew that if they were going to make
a run at the Stanley Cup, they couldn’t just
sit on their hands and wait for players to
be healthy.
As the trade deadline came to a close,
the Penguins made a deal with the Atlanta
Thrashers and acquired right wing star
Marian Hossa.
Hossa was second on the Thrashers in
points, with 26 goals and 30 assists.
Although he suffered a sprained knee in
his first game with Pittsburgh, the Slovak
Republic-born star in only looking at
missing up to two weeks and he will be
back on the ice to help his team’s march to
the playoffs.
It’s a Stanley Cup the Pittsburgh fans
have been anticipating for a long time.
Penguin fans have sold out their arena. In
fact, there is currently a waiting list to get
season tickets. The fans of Pittsburgh have
been waiting since 1992 to get back to the
Stanley Cup finals.
Back then, the Eastern Conference was
known as the Prince of Wales conference
and Scotty Bowman coached the
Penguins.
One final thought:
Injuries are never an excuse for a losing
trend, but if the Red Wings want to use it,
they certainly can. Dan Cleary went down
on Feb. 9 with a broken jaw. Cleary was
third on the team in goals. The defense
lost three key elements. Chris Chelios
went down with a contusion, Nicklas
Lidstrom sprained his MCL and will be
out three weeks, while Brian Rafalski
went on injured reserved for a groin
injury. In the month of February, the
Wings fell back to the pack, going 4-8-2
with an astonishing 1-8-2 in its final 11
games of the month.
As of Monday, Detroit had won three in
a row and look to be back to the form that
made it so dominant in the beginning of
the season.
March 12, 2008 Page 26