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Sidney Crosby has the Penguins rolling, but March could decide everything
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Sidney Crosby has the Pittsburgh Penguins rolling into the Olympic break, but a brutal March schedule could crush their playoff grip.
Pittsburgh sits 29-15-12, good for 70 points and second in the Metropolitan Division.
That’s the “sitting pretty” part, and it’s real.
Since Christmas, they’ve piled up wins and stayed above the noise.
They’ve also stopped bleeding points against teams they should beat.
Crosby drives it, with 27-32-59 on the season.
Evgeni Malkin sits at 13-31-44, and the top-six looks dangerous when the pace ramps up.
Here’s the post that kicked this off.
Now the warning: March is a monster, with 17 games and most of them against playoff-level opponents.
It starts immediately with Vegas, Boston twice, and Philadelphia, before a road swing through Carolina, Vegas, Utah, and Colorado.
Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins face reality
Penguins fans should feel proud right now, but nobody trusts it until they survive that Carolina stretch without wobbling.
Carolina shows up three times in March, and those are the kinds of games that expose tired legs and thin depth.
The margin is simple: keep the man advantage clean, win draws, and don’t gift odd-man rushes when the schedule tightens.
The blue line has to move pucks fast, because March punishes slow exits more than any month.
The break helps, but it also resets the league, and the standings don’t care how you felt on February 8.
Circle Thursday, February 26 vs New Jersey as the runway back to real hockey, because it has the chance to end quick.
If they bank points early in March, they’ll control their own story again.
Also read on HockeyUnplugged :
Special scene as Sidney Crosby leads Team Canada off the plane at the Olympics in Milan
Special scene as Sidney Crosby leads Team Canada off the plane at the Olympics in Milan