FanHouse ChrisMinard

When the Penguins entered the third period of Sunday's game against Boston trailing, 3-2, they had the Bruins exactly where they wanted them.

Thanks to a four-goal rally, including two from Chris Kunitz, who registered his second career hat trick, the Penguins pulled out a 6-4 win over the top team in the Eastern Conference.

As if Wednesday's loss to the Capitals wasn't bad enough for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it also came with a heavy price, as they lost Sidney Crosby to an apparent leg injury. Initially, Crosby had been described as day-to-day, and on Friday afternoon, the Penguins captain ruled himself out for their game against Anaheim after taking part in the morning skate. Had Crosby played, it would have been the first time he took the ice against Ducks forward Bobby Ryan, the No. 2 pick in the 2005 draft who was taken one spot later than Crosby.

As a result of Crosby's absence, the Penguins' already thin group of forwards becomes even more depleted, as the team is already skating without Ruslan Fedotenko, Pascal Dupuis and Max Talbot. The injuries led to a bit of humor -- because if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? -- from the team's official website.

Earlier this week I referenced a one-punch fight between Pittsburgh's Ruslan Fedotenko and Atlanta's Colby Armstrong. As you can see in the video shown above, it was nothing more than Fedotenko hitting Armstrong in the jaw, followed quickly by Armstrong hittting the ice. If this were a boxing match, it would be an easy TKO in favor of Fedotenko. The problem is, it came with a heavy, heavy price for the Penguins, as he's now going to miss four-to-six weeks with a broken hand. I guess Armstrong's jaw is that strong.

It's actually kind of funny -- though, not in a knee-slapping, ha-ha kind of way -- because in October and November, Penguins fans were looking for ways to keep Fedotenko out of the lineup for weeks at a time, mainly because he was playing terrible hockey. What a difference a few months makes, as this is actually a pretty big loss for the Penguins. He's been one of their best fowards the past couple of weeks, registering 13 points in his past 17 games. He also appeared to be developing some decent chemistry with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora on the team's second line.

For a team that's already lacking capable wingers -- or anything that resembles a winger -- this hurts. Chris Minard has been called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take his place.

Even though the Penguins are currently 5-3-2 (without their top two defensemen) and are the reigning Eastern Conference Champions, things aren't off to such a fast start in the Burgh. Evgeni Malkin isn't happy with the way the team is playing, Jordan Staal can't score, and ever since Marian Hossa bolted to Detroit, the team hasn't been able to find a front-line winger for Sidney Crosby. Until now! Well, sort of. Actually, hopefully not. But let's give this a try anyway.

First, according to the Post-Gazette's Shelley Anderson, the Penguins have called up forward Chris Minard from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, presumably because Pascal Dupuis will be out of the lineup for tonight's game in Phoenix. Nothing out of the ordinary here; guy gets hurt, replacement needed. Cool.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, Wilkes-Barre beat writer Jonathan Bombulie offers the suggestion that Minard, career-minor leaguer, play on Sidney Crosby's wing ... because he's a shooter!