Pens 4, Rangers 1

Evgeni Malkin powered the Pens to a 4-1 victory last night over the Rangers by with his second hat trick of the month. Malkin scored the first two goals of the game early in the first within three minutes of each other. Gonchar added the third goal of the opening period about 10 minutes later. Malkin's third goal of the game came on an empty net shot with 24 seconds remaining in the game. The Rangers only managed one goal, a power play goal from Jagr in the third period.

It was a chippy, hard hitting game, which we are getting used to from the Rangers. The opening faceoff featured a fight between Laraque and Colton Orr (video will be posted later), and there were many instances of the Rangers taking shots at the Penguins players throughout the game.

The win put the pens in first place in the Atlantic! What a difference since November when they were hovering around last place. Too bad the Devils have been winning nearly as many games as the Pens or they could have a substantial lead.

The Rangers were not at the top of their game. The looked flat throughout the game until finally finding some life midway through the third. This act of deperation came was too little, too late. The Penguins played solid defense and were hitting at both ends of the rink.

Here is a Yahoo sports video recap of the game:

Click here

Next Up - The Pens have half a week off and won't hit the ice again until Friday night against the Lightning.

Current Streaks - Penguins, 10 games unbeaten in regulation; Conklin 11 game unbeaten in regulation; consecutive games against the Rangers that Laraque and Orr have squared off, 2.

Injury Update - no news of note on Fleury or Roberts.

Home of the Penguins weekly rant - why isn't Malkin on the All Star roster??