The Penguins have only two more games to somehow overtake either the New York Islanders or the Florida Panthers for the last NHL Eastern Conference playoff Wild Card. They need to win their next two games and hope for a regulation loss by either the Isles or the Panthers in their two remaining games. An overtime loss by either of those two teams will not help because the Penguins lose the tiebreaker to both teams based on total wins.
In Saturday’s win over Detroit, Sidney Crosby scored two goals and had an assist, reaching the 1,500 point mark for his career and drawing raves from head coach Mike Sullivan.
Sullivan says Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang continue to amaze him with their drive to win.
The Pens close the regular season against the two teams with the worst records in hockey, starting tomorrow night on home ice against the Chicago Blackhawks, followed by Thursday’s finale in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.
The Islanders are at Washington tonight against the Capitals and they host the Canadiens on Wednesday. The Panthers might represent the Penguins best opportunity…they host the Maple Leafs tonight, then play the Hurricanes on Thursday. Those would normally be tough games but with both Toronto and Carolina already locked into the playoffs and in second place in their divisions, whether or not they play their top guys is debatable.
The Pens yesterday returned forward Alex Nylander to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a day after he scored a goal in the win over Detroit.
Faceoff tomorrow for the Penguins and Blackhawks is at 7:30 on 92.5 FM, U92.
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