CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — After fielding questions about Matt Murray’s long-term injury and Ian Cole’s contract situation, Sidney Crosby was finally able to crack at least a small smile while sitting at his locker stall on Tuesday.
Despite the obvious concerns of playing without his starting goaltender for a month and a potential off-ice distraction, the Penguins’ throbbing Stanley Cup hangover could be, at long last, showing signs of subsiding. And if the Penguins are to finally get back to playing at a championship level after slogging their way through a 13-10-3 start during a brutal early-season schedule, it would appear now is that time.
Beginning with Friday night’s game in Buffalo, the first of a home-and-home against the Sabres, the Penguins should — repeat, should — have a very real opportunity to get their feet back under them and to give themselves a little breathing room in the Eastern Conference playoff field.
“It’s going to be pretty hard to separate yourself from the pack. It’s pretty tight,” Crosby told me. “I think it’s something we’ve seen, especially the last couple years, it’s so tight. We just have to focus on getting better every game and making sure that we play like we did in the third period."
He was referring to Monday’s 5-4 OT comeback win over the Flyers.
"We play like that, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win games. But I think just trying to build and continuing to get better. It’s not going to happen in one game, but hopefully we can we build off a couple wins.”
Certainly, the chance to build is there, and it starts with Crosby. With the Penguins, it always does.
With a win over the Sabres, they of the NHL’s fewest points (16) and fewest goals scored (55, tied with Phoenix), including being shut out in their last two games, the Penguins can match their season-best win streak of a modest three games. From there, they begin a season-long, five-game homestead inside the very friendly confines of PPG Paints Arena, where they are 8-2-1. Of their opponents during that homestand -- Sabres, Rangers, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Avalanche -- only the Islanders (32) and Maple Leafs (33) have more points than the Penguins (29).
Oh, and Crosby? The captain has done some of his best work against the Islanders, Sabres and Maple Leafs. A 1.302 point per game producer in his career, he averages 1.74 against the Islanders, 1.51 against the Sabres and 1.49 against the Leafs. Those happen to be his three highest averages against any Eastern Conference opponents.
With the possible return of Evgeni Malkin, who missed the last four games with an undisclosed upper body injury, even more help could be on the way.
The Penguins' power play clicks at 20.4 percent at home, but it could be more in line with the 30.1 percent rate on the road: More pucks to the net with bodies in front, less trying to be too cute as they were at times against the Flyers while going 1-for-5. But mostly, they will have to be even more defensively responsible with Tristan Jarry, a “veteran” of four starts and two wins, in net for the time being.
“We have confidence in every guy who goes in there,” said Crosby.
Confidence was a word that was being thrown around quite a bit after practice Tuesday. With a two-game winning streak to their credit, the Penguins have the chance to extend it further.
“I think we’re getting more toward the right track,” said Bryan Rust, who has two goals in the last two games after scoring two in the previous 24. “There’s some things to build on. The second period (against Philadelphia) we didn’t like, we gave them way too much. But I think the first and third are things we can really build on. We had a lot of good moments and if we can have those efforts for a full 60 minutes, those are going to make us really hard to play against.”