March of the Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on a roll. Winners of five straight, including Saturday’s 4-1 thrashing of those notorious bullies from Broad Street—the Philadelphia Flyers—in the latest installment of the Battle of Pennsylvania. One that enabled the black and gold to leapfrog the Islanders and claim third place in the Metropolitan Division.

For the record, that was no pushover they thumped. Paced by All-Star Claude Giroux and rookie sensation Shayne Gostisbehere, the Flyers were a piping hot 8-1-1 in their last 10 games entering yesterday’s contest.

The Penguins handled them with shocking ease. Beat them like a drum. Before a throng of 19,967 mostly crestfallen Philly faithful at Wells Fargo Center.

Perhaps the Pens’ most impressive effort under Mike Sullivan. A notion seconded by the 48-year-old skipper.

“I thought it was the most complete game that we’ve played to this point at both ends of the rink,” Sullivan said. “I thought when the time came to have to defend, we defended hard. Our attention to detail was really good. I thought everybody trusted one another out there. And when we play that way, we’re hard to play against.”

Hard to play against, indeed. Though the Flyers had some early odd-man breaks and grabbed a lead on a second-period goal by rugged Radko Gudas, they struggled to cope with the Pens’ team speed and relentless forecheck. Indeed, while the locals piled up 35 shots on goal, the flagging Flyers mustered a paltry 17—their lowest total of the campaign.

Even Phil Kessel got into the act. Turning on the jets, No. 81 hounded Ryan White into a critical turnover with three minutes left in the second period. The puck popped loose to Nick Bonino, who threaded a pretty pass to Carl Hagelin in the slot. “Hags” went top shelf, roofing the puck over harried Philly goalie Steve Mason.

Although Kessel didn’t earn an assist, he made arguably the play of the game.

The tally followed Trevor Daley’s equalizer, which came scarcely a minute after Gudas opened the scoring at 1:58 of the second period. The mobile Pens defenseman swooped in and beat Mason high to the glove side to finish off a pretty passing sequence by Bonino and Eric Fehr.

A minute and a half after Hagelin staked the Penguins to a 2-1 lead, Chris Kunitz padded the advantage with his 15th goal of the season, thanks to some diligent board work by Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist and a fortuitous bounce off the end boards.

After the Pens limited their hosts to eight third-period shots, Kris Letang provided some insurance by deflecting (some thought kicking) a Kunitz feed into an empty Flyers net. Following more reversals than a disputed court case, the goal stood.

So, most emphatically, has our hockey team.

No Evgeni Malkin? No problem. Our boys just close ranks and keep comin.’

Call it the march of the Penguins.

Bonino Hot

After struggling to produce for most of the season, Bonino appears to be hitting his offensive stride. Since returning from a hand injury on February 27, the faceoff specialist and penalty-killing ace has two goals and four assists in a dozen games.

Since replacing Malkin on the second line? He’s got a goal and three points—including yesterday’s two-assist performance that earned him a No. 1 star.

Better still, “Bones” has displayed good chemistry with his new linemates.

“We’re getting used to each other,” Bonino said. “Just trying to utilize (Hagelin and Kessel’s) speed. They’re really quick, and anytime we can back the D off and get the puck in their zone, whenever we’re in their zone, we’re really dangerous.”

Kunitz Too

With little fanfare, assistant captain Chris Kunitz continues his stunning resurgence.

Through the first two months of the season, “Kuny” collected a meager three goals in 23 games. Beginning with a two-assist effort against San Jose on December 1, the Saskatchewan native’s tallied 12 goals and 21 assists in 46 games.

Kunitz ranks seventh in the league with 238 hits—remarkable given his age (36) and smallish stature. He’s a plus-30 to boot—tied for third in the NHL.