Well, well, well…it seems as if the thousands of Leafs fans that made the trek from Ontario into Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena last evening had their enthusiastic tone changed very quickly by Mark Recchi, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Fleury. After the 8-2 drubbing administered by the young Pens, all that was left of the once-boisterous Toronto contingent were a few flag-waving drunks, chanting “Kansas City Penguins”. I hope the rest of the NHL enjoys taunting Penguin fans with the Kansas City chants now, because once the new arena plans are set in place for Pittsburgh, they’re not going to have much else ammunition to use against said Pens fans.
Perhaps I sound overconfident about the arena issue; after all, it’s been years that this arena situation has been slowly heating to the current boil. To follow the “boiling” analogy, the local politicians are playing the part of unwitting lobsters, thrust into the water as the heat increased. Now, as Kansas City gives Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle the smoky, come-hither stare, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the other two stooges, councilman Dan Onorato and PA governor Ed Rendell, are desperately scrambling to provide the city with the new arena it needs ANYWAY, NHL franchise or not. Anybody with even one-tenth of an ounce of foresight could see this coming from a mile away: Pittsburgh needs a new multipurpose arena. The Penguins are merely incidental to this fact. Whether the Penguins leave or not, the city is going to be replacing dilapidated Mellon Arena within five years anyway. Would you like to be the politico that has to tell your constituents “We lost your hockey franchise because we couldn’t figure out how to put together a plan for a new arena deal five years ago, using existing funding sources…and now, we still need a new arena, only YOU, the taxpayer, now must pay for it”? I thought not. The Penguins, despite all the posturing, preening, and flirtations with Timbuktu, aren’t going anywhere.
All this ado about the arena has really distracted from a remarkable storyline on-ice, as the young Penguins mature on a nightly basis, right before the eyes of NHL fans. Sidney Crosby appears as though he may have popped directly out of the womb right to the half-boards; Evgeni Malkin is learning that it takes a consistent effort on a nightly basis to dominate in his first NHL season; Marc-Andre Fleury, nee Marc-Andre “Floppy”, has turned past flashes of brilliance into streaks of brilliance at times this season. Other young Penguins show promise and improvement on a nightly basis, players such as Ryan Whitney and Jordan Staal. These Penguins are two or three seasons away from fulfilling this immense promise they show now, but don’t discount them for this season. This Eastern Conference, aside from the top two or three teams, has shown itself to be a very tightly bunched group, with one or two five-game winning streaks being the difference between a 5 seed and finishing 14th in the conference. Can the Penguins carry their current momentum into the second half of the season and into the playoffs?
And if they can…would you want your favorite team getting stuck in that matchup in round one? Dicey…
