Two Penguins Down & The Devils Are Back!

It sure has been awhile my friends and I apologize, here’s what’s going on…..

Recently, Evegeni Malkin and Sid the Kid have been to the Penguins what this columnist has been to this website, absent. Crosby suffered a concussion in the Winter Classic (which was an excellent game) against the Caps. After playing for a short time after he’s been on the shelf for about a month now. Malkin is out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL and has a 6 month recovery window. I expect the Pens to be busy in the days leading up to the trade deadline.

Last year’s Stanley Cup Champion, the Chicago Blackhawks, find themselves sitting 3 points out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the highly competitive Western Conference; they’re also only 6 points out of 4th place and 12 behind division leader Detroit.

The three hottest teams in the NHL right now:

The San Jose Sharks at 8-1-1 in their last 10

The Philadelphia Flyers are leading the Eastern Conference and are 8-2-0 in their last 10

And……

The New Jersey Devils?

Yes everyone, the team that’s been a playoff contender year in and year out since my birth (much to my enjoyment) a little over 20 years ago was THE WORST team in the first 41 games of the season with a record of 10-29-2. More recently they have been the best team in the league since Jan 9th with a record of 10-1-2. The Devils are on pace to finish their second half of 41 games with 38-41 wins for the season and have a shot to play for the cup. Currently they are 15 points behind 8th place Carolina with Atlanta, Buffalo, Florida, and Toronto all ahead of them. 8 of their remaining 27 games are against these teams and are all, needlessly to say, must wins. Realistically the team is still more likely to miss the playoffs rather than make the tournament but at worst the Devs will play big spoilers to other teams down the stretch. It would be an amazing story, similar to that of the Philadelphia Flyers last season, except they would be climbing out of an even bigger deficit than the Flyers did in ’09-’10.

Besides Crosby and Malkin, the injury bug has hit Marc Savard of the Bruins. He suffered his second concussion in less than a full year and has shut it down for the season. Another injury problem, and I do mean problem considering his past, is Rick DiPietro. While it was fantastic to see a goalie fight, it’s just sad that Dipietro is now out because he has facial fractures from his fight with Pens goalie Brent Johnson. He also has swelling in his oft-injured knee. To add insult to injury, the Isles lost their backup goaltender for the season when he dislocated his right knee in practice this week