Watch Your Back, New Jersey

pens beat the bruins 5-0 yesterday. maf earned his 5th shutout of the season, and 7th of his young career. ryan malone extended the pens lead to 4-0 when i was updating some other sports happenings. geno scored, gary roberts shot a laser, gonchar had 2 assists, and crosby tallied 2 goals and an assist. new jersey, with a game in hand, can feel the pressure of these young pens. with the atlantic division all knotted up at the top, the pens are looking at a top 2 seed in the eastern division rather than the see-saw battle for 4th place with ottawa. the pens have been lights out at home, which is probably why home playoff tickets just sold out in 13 minutes.

next game is tomorrow, a washington. new jersey also plays, against a formidable atlantic rival, the new york rick dipietros. a win coupled with a nj loss puts your pittsburgh penguins at the top of the atlantic division, and in 2nd place in the eastern conference with just under 2 weeks to go in the season. before the season started, i told a friend that the only way the pens could sniff the playoffs was if geno made it from russia. even once he surfaced, and made an immediate impact on the club and league, 2nd place in the eastern conference still seemed unattainable. the pens have defied all sorts of odds by playing cosistant hockey with young talent. if the pens can keep their wits about them, it isnt too much of a stretch to allude to the fact that lord stanley could make a stop in the steel city. soon.

nhl.com has a drop-down list of nhl player sites. its not an extensive list, but the collection of players boggles my mind. there are five players' sites listed: sidney crosby, ed belfour, rick nash, raffi torres and kevin weekes. of all the players in the league, i dont think i would ever think of these 5 guys at the same time. ever. also, i can understand nhl-approved fansites for crosby, belfour and nash. torres and weekes? eh...not so much. (sings "one of these things is not like the other" in mind)