FanHouse TylerKennedy

After Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward put on a goaltending clinic on Monday, prompting the discussion of whether or not they're legitimate franchise goaltenders, the two players, along with their collective defenses, seemingly took the night off on Thursday as Pittsburgh picked up a 7-4 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. Just 12 minutes into the first period, the two teams had already scored as many goals as they did in Game 1, while Carolina held a 3-2 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

Evgeni Malkin recorded his first career playoff hat trick in the win for Pittsburgh, registering his fifth consecutive multiple point game.

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After struggling on Sunday, Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded with a sensational performance on Tuesday night, stopping 44-of-45 shots in Pittsburgh's 3-1 against Philadelphia in game 4 of its Eastern Conference Quarterfinal.

No question about it, the Penguins' 24-year-old netminder was their best player, standing on his head much of the game, giving them an opportunity to win. The Flyers were consistently swarming the front of the net -- and firing shots from every possible angle on each of their eight power plays -- as Fleury was there every single time to make the stops.

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If you're a Penguins fan, there was certainly a lot to like about their 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening game of their Eastern Conference playoff series on Wednesday night.

They received offense from the usual suspects (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin), they were strong defensively and on the penalty kill, and they even picked up a pair of goals from Tyler Kennedy and Mark Eaton. All things considered, it was a strong showing.

The one area they can improve? As has been the case much of the season, the power play.

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Avalanche 4, Flames 3: Colorado ended a four-game losing streak with its win over Calgary on Monday night, thanks in large part to a three-point effort from Marek Svatos. Svatos chipped in two goals (including the eventual game-winner late in the second period) and added an assist, while Ryan Smyth registered a pair of helpers in the win.

Peter Budaj was strong in net for the Avalanche, turning aside 36 of 39 shots to pick up his 14th win over the season.

It was a great night of rivalries in the NHL on Tuesday, including a classic original six tilt in Boston, where the Bruins pulled out a 3-1 win over Montreal.

Tim Thomas stopped 34-of-35 shots, and even inserted himself into the rough stuff when he clobbered Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn just moments after he sent Aaron Ward into the boards.

Kostitsyn gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead early in the second period, until Zdeno Chara added a pair of power play goals later in the period. David Krejci put the game out of reach late in the third period, scoring 17th goal of the season, helping lead the Bruins to their third straight win. Montreal had won four in a row, and eight of its past nine entering the game.

The Penguins lost again on Monday night -- fifth in a row -- and continued their struggles with the power play. Entering play against the Rangers, the Penguins had been mired in an 0-for-24 slump with the man advantage. After an 0-for-8 showing at the Garden, you can extend that slump to 0-for-32. Not exactly an advantage.

Granted, the absence of Sergei Gonchar has been huge for the Penguins, which is no doubt leading to some (all?) of these struggles. Still, it's difficult comprehend how a unit that consists of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Petr Sykora can struggle to put the puck in the net on a semi-regular basis.

In the first period of Monday's game, the Penguins were awarded a four-minute power play after a high-sticking call on Petr Prucha, which was quickly followed by a questionable holding call on Dmitri Kalinin. It was going to be a full two-minute, two-man advantage. And they failed to score. Sure, Henrik Lundqvist was stellar in net, but he wasn't in goal for the 24 previous attempts.

So, what's the problem? Being too predictable comes to mind.

Let's take a look at a typical Penguins two-minute power play over the past month.

The Pittsburgh Penguins defense has been crushed by injuries through the first three months of the season, as they've been without their top two defenders -- and power play quarterbacks -- in Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. A couple of weeks ago, they also lost Hal Gill to a shoulder injury, meaning the Penguins have been skating the past three weeks without their top three defenders from last season's playoff run.

Factor in the month that No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury missed with a groin injury, and the various other injuries suffered by Tyler Kennedy, Mike Zigomanis and Max Talbot throughout season, and, well, it's been crazy. Actually, it's not that different from a year ago.

Good news, however, as Whitney will be making his return to the lineup tonight when the Penguins take on Tampa Bay at Mellon Arena. Whitney's been out all season after undergoing foot surgery over the summer.

Whitney certainly has his critics among Penguins fans -- myself included, sometimes -- he's still going to be a welcome addition to the lineup with his puck-moving skills, which will hopefully help what has been a mind-numbingly inconsistent power play unit.

When the Penguins acquired Hal Gill at last season's trade deadline, I wasn't really a big fan when I heard about the deal. My initial thoughts on Gill were that he was a lumbering oaf that didn't fit into the "new NHL," and, well, because he was constantly the whipping boy for Maple Leafs fans.

As it turns out, one man's trash is another man's treasure, as Gill was fantastic for the Penguins through the playoffs, and has been a rock on the penalty kill.

He left Saturday's game against Ottawa with an injury, and sat out the Penguins' 4-3 loss to Buffalo last night. As it turns out, he's going to miss the next two to four weeks with a shoulder injury, joining the already long list of injured Penguins players.

Pittsburgh has been without its top two defenseman, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, all season, while the Penguins also lost Phillipe Boucher shortly after acquiring him from Dallas. Starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has missed the past three weeks with a groin injury, while forward Tyler Kennedy is also out with a sprained knee.

Ben Lovejoy was called up from Wilkes-Barre to replace Gill in the lineup, and played 10:37, blocking one shot, in last night's loss.

Tuesday night's game against Edmonton is probably one that Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire would like to permanently erase from his memory, seeing as how it's probably the worst game he's ever played in the NHL. Leclaire gave up seven goals on just 19 shots, as the Oilers rolled to a 7-2 victory, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Columbus finished with a commanding edge in the shots department, firing 39 shots at Dwayne Roloson -- he stopped 37 of them -- and still managed to skate away losing by five goals.

Seven different players scored for Edmonton, including Dustin Penner, who returned to the ice after being banished to the press box for the past two games for, well, not being fit enough to help the club. Penner was also a factor on Edmonton's first goal, as he parked his massive frame in front of Leclaire, providing a screen on Sheldon Souray's blast from the point. Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilbert, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Shawn Horcoff and Lubomir Visnovsky also scored for the Oilers.

Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash scored the only goals for the Blue Jackets.

Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 p.m. To read them all, click here.

On Saturday morning when I passed along the news that Petr Prucha was actually going to get into the lineup for Saturday's Rangers-Lightning tilt in Prague, I also made a point of linking to a rather angry Larry Brooks column where the Slap Shot columnist let loose with every little complaint he had about the way the Rangers were handling their pre-season. After giving it a read, you could be forgiven for thinking the team was in a bit of disarray:

It's all about Renney coaching a team without Jagr and Shanahan to lean on, and it's all about this group filling the huge voids created with the decision to dispose of the team's post-lockout identity as if it were toxic.

It's all about one of the most vanilla Rangers teams in memory bonding in order to form a unit greater than the sum of its underwhelming parts.

Well, here we are a little less than 48 hours later, and all is forgotten in the wake of a pair of 2-1 victories over the revamped Lightning. Rangers newcomers Markus Naslund and Wade Redden combined for two goals and two assists over the weekend, as the New Yorkers pretty easily dominated the run of play as the Lightning played against type. While new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie spent most of the Summer stacking the team with loads of new offensive weapons, it was their goalies, Mike Smith and Olie Kolzig, who kept things close, stopping 76 of 80 shots over the course of two games.