The mighty Penguins

Sidney Crosby leads the league in scoring and the Pittsburgh Penguins sit fourth in the East with a 15-8-2 record. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images)

Adam Proteau
2010-11-29 15:00:00

The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have all their players clicking on all cylinders – or, for that matter, even healthy – but their recent turnaround in fortunes isn’t based on a fully healthy lineup or the return to form of star center Evgeni Malkin.

Instead, the Penguins have been the hottest team in the league, going 8-1-1 in their past 10 games on the strength of outstanding play by captain Sidney Crosby (18 goals and 40 points in 25 games), the defensive (and offensive) contributions of blueliners Kris Letang (18 assists, 22 points and a team-best plus-11) and Alex Goligoski (a team-leading three game-winning goals) and white-hot play from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (2-0-0, 0.50 GAA and .986 save percentage in his past two games).

Malkin is still struggling (one goal in his past three games) and center Jordan Staal remains sidelined indefinitely with a broken hand, but coach Dan Bylsma and Penguins management have to be pleased to see the team overcome adversity as they have.

This week, the Penguins face the New York Rangers in Manhattan on Monday, the Atlanta Thrashers at home on Thursday and the Blue Jackets Saturday night in Columbus. All three opponents currently are sitting in a playoff position, so Crosby & Co.’s hot streak will be put to the test.

What are your thoughts on the rankings? Who should be No. 1? Let us know in the comments section below.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	P10	THE SCOOP
1		1	15-4-2	7-2-1	Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary have identical shooting percentages (10 goals on 53 shots)
2		2	17-6-2	6-2-2	Nicklas Backstrom (four goals), Brooks Laich and Mike Green (three apiece) have more power play goals than Alex Ovechkin (two)
3		4	15-6-4	6-2-2	Flyers the league’s most dangerous 5-on-5 team (1.63 goals for/against ratio)
4		5	15-8-1	7-3-0	Brian Gionta has 101 shots – 32 more than the second-most-active Habs shooter (Mike Cammalleri)
5		17	15-8-2	8-1-1	Sidney Crosby making strong case as early frontrunner for Hart Trophy
6		6	14-8-0	6-4-0	Jackets still impressing – at least before running into Red Wings buzzsaw on the weekend
7		14	13-8-1	5-4-1	Stars can look like champs one night, chumps the next
8		10	12-7-3	5-4-1	Henrik Sedin is on pace to finish with seven goals – and 93 assists
9		12	11-6-5	7-1-2	Keith Yandle now leading all Coyotes skaters in ice time (23:20)
10		3	13-9-0	4-6-0	After starting season well, goalie Jonathan Bernier (3.29 GAA, .889 save percentage) struggling to find consistency
11		9	13-9-1	6-4-0	Chris Stewart great at scoring; not so great at punching (he's out indefinitely with a broken hand sustained in a fight with Minnesota's Kyle Brodziak)
12		7	12-8-2	4-5-1	Bruins haven’t won when trailing after first period (0-5-2)
13		8	12-7-3	3-6-1	Alex Steen is a decent player, but he shouldn’t be leading the Blues in game-winning goals (two)
14		11	13-8-3	5-4-1	Steven Stamkos has 21 goals – 13 more than Bolts’ next-most-proficient scorer
15		15	11-7-4	5-2-3	Sharks not accustomed to being a .500 team
16		18	14-10-1	7-3-0	With a 5-2-0 mark and 2.15 GAA, Martin Biron is one of the best off-season signings
17		13	11-9-2	5-5-0	Martin Havlat playing best hockey in a Wild uniform, leading team with 22 points in 22 games
18		24	12-9-3	6-4-0	Dustin Byfuglien is getting all the attention on Thrashers’ blueline, but Tobias Enstrom has been almost as good
19		20	13-11-2	5-4-1	Marian Hossa had 11 points in his first seven games, but just seven in his next 14
20		16	9-8-5	4-4-2	Not a good sign when Cal O’Reilly leads all Preds point-getters with 13
21		22	10-10-3	4-3-3	Ian White was a minus-10 before trade to Canes; is even on plus/minus in five games since deal
22		23	11-12-1	4-6-0	Only Wild, Rangers and Oilers are averaging fewer shots on net than Sens’ 28 per night
23		19	11-11-3	4-4-2	Toni Lydman a team-best plus-13; next best is Bobby Ryan at plus-7
24		21	10-12-0	5-5-0	Panthers’ power play is abominable (an NHL-worst 6.4 percent)
25		26	9-12-2	3-5-2	Flames owner Murray Edwards recently said, “failure is not an option.” Obviously, he hasn’t seen many Flames games
26		25	8-11-3	3-6-1	GM Brian Burke running out of internal options to fix feckless offense (2.18 goals per game – tied with Nashville for third-worst in the NHL)
27		27	9-13-3	5-4-1	If Sabres could play the Leafs for 82 games, they’d be fine
28		29	8-14-2	4-5-1	Nov. 26 loss to Islanders shows fixing Devils won’t be easy – or quick
29		28	6-12-4	2-6-2	Doesn’t matter who’s in Edmonton’s net – the result (a 30th-ranked team GAA of 3.86) is still awful
30		30	5-12-5	1-6-3	The good news: the Isles’ (14-game) losing streak is dead; the bad news: there are more losing streaks ahead