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Pittsburgh Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby will see game action tonight for the first time in over three months when the Penguins meet the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Believe it or not, there are actually a few more storylines deserving recognition regarding tonight’s matchup.
For one, defenseman Kris Letang could make his return to the lineup tonight as well. Letang has missed the team’s previous five games after being hit in the head by Dallas Stars forward Eric Nystrom.
It’s hard to say anything could be more important than re-inserting the best player in the world into a team’s lineup, but Letang’s return may prove every bit as important as Crosby’s.
As-is, the Penguins’ blue line employs no real puck-moving defenseman. Letang’s unrivaled skating ability coupled with his vision and puck-handling skills make him one of the game’s premier defensemen breaking out of his own zone. Matt Niskanen and Paul Martin – along with rookie Simon Despres for a few games – are the closest the Penguins have to a breakout defenseman when Letang isn’t in the lineup. That’s not good.
Letang also mans the point on what is currently a top five power play unit in the National Hockey League. The Penguins just aren’t the same on the man advantage without Letang, and their recent power play struggles show it. Add Letang back in the defensive mix and the Penguins have another extremely legitimate scoring threat, now from the blue line.
Also worthy of a mention regarding tonight’s game is the sudden illness of star Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers announced Lundqvist had the flu on Tuesday. In one of the more ironic moments of all-time, the announcement came shortly after Crosby announced he’d be returning for the team’s game in New York against Lundqvist and the Rangers.
This means the Penguins could see backup goaltender Martin Biron. One must assume the Rangers wouldn’t be so daring as to start emergency call-up Chad Johnson in a game against the red-hot Penguins, which leads nicely to the next storyline of the night.
Six points. Six points separate the Rangers and the Penguins in the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference. A few short weeks ago, the Rangers held a seemingly insurmountable advantage over the rest of the conference while the Penguins seemed destined for a battle for the fourth seed with the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils over the remainder of the season.
Now, fresh off Pittsburgh’s ninth consecutive victory, the Rangers are in sight. The Flyers are two points back; the Devils four. The Penguins have played less games than each of these teams.
Fittingly, the Penguins meet each of them sometime in the next four days.
Tonight is a matchup of the undisputed two greatest teams the Eastern Conference has to offer. It could be considered a matchup of the two greatest teams the entire NHL has to offer, but a few Western Conference fans would throw a fit if I proclaimed it such.
A fully healthy Pittsburgh Penguins squad – Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal, Letang, Jordan Staal – employing literally the two best hockey players in the entire world, a top five goaltender, a legitimate sniper on the wing, a 30-goal third-line center and a future perennial Norris Trophy candidate is as close to unbeatable as the NHL has seen post-lockout. Unfortunately, the NHL hasn’t really yet seen it. The team has played less than ten games with each of those players dressed since January 2011.
With a little more injury luck and a little less interference from the hockey gods, this Pittsburgh Penguins squad will unite and put on a show worthy of its own primetime series on NHL Network en route to a few more Stanley Cups in the coming years.
It premieres tonight with the New York Rangers.
Follow Troy on Twitter @TroyPfaff
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