Return of the Penguins

Pittsburgh made the playoffs for the first time in six years

Having defeated Washington 4:3 in the regular season match, the Pittsburgh Penguins secured participation in the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time since 2001. Now the Penguins are out of reach of competitors in the Eastern Conference, and largely owe this to their two top scorers - Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

When Jaromir Jagr left Pittsburgh six years ago and the club's management set a course for rejuvenating the roster, many expected that the Penguins would go several seasons without competing for the Stanley Cup. There were faint hopes only for Mario Lemieux, but he also could not pull the “penguins” from the bottom of the standings. When, due to financial difficulties, the club was forced to part with Alexei Kovalev, Ron Tugnutt, Bob Bugner, Darius Kasparaitis and Robert Lang, it became clear that Pittsburgh would have to hang around among hopeless losers for a long time. They even wanted to move the rapidly impoverished club to Winnipeg, but abandoned this plan, which might not have saved the Penguins. This year there were serious talks about moving the team to Las Vegas or Kansas City. But local cities and the club's management finally reached an agreement to build a new arena, which will cost $290 million and will open before the start of the 2009-2010 season. The city calmed down and continued to wait for the revival of the “penguins”.

The hopes were not groundless. Being among outsiders sometimes contributes to an adequate assessment of what is happening. And in Pittsburgh they decided to build a new team a long time ago. A number of successful trades in the 2003/2004 season shook up the Penguins, and several last places in the regular season allowed them to count on the right to the first choice in the draft. This is how two of its main stars appeared on the team - Canadian Sidney Crosby, the first pick in the 2005 draft, and Russian Evgeni Malkin, selected second a year later.

The scandal with which Evgeni Malkin left overseas has already been forgotten, and the 20-year-old Russian is now one of the main contenders for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the best newcomer of the season. The Pittsburgh forward's application is indeed very significant - having scored 82 points (32+50) using the "goal plus pass" system, he is the top scorer of all debutants in the regular season, as well as one of the few players who at such a young age surpassed the mark 30 goals per season. The only thing that hinders Malkin now is his poor command of the English language, which does not suit local journalists very well. Evgeny, for now, can make do with a minimum set of words, fortunately he lives at home with his teammate Sergei Gonchar.

Pittsburgh's entry into the playoffs is a definite plus for Malkin in the fight for the Calder Trophy. His main competitors - Paul Stastny from Colorado and Anze Kopitar from Los Angeles - cannot yet boast of such success. But still, according to experts, Stastny’s chances of winning the prize are preferable. Many remember the game of his father, the famous Slovak hockey player Peter Stastny, and his brother Jan can be seen in matches for St. Louis. By the way, the father of the current Colorado newcomer won the Calder Trophy in 1981, and also managed to play for two national teams - Czechoslovakia and Canada. But Paul Stastny, who has both an American and a Canadian passport, has not yet decided which colors of the flag he will defend.

But it’s not just family ties that help Paul. This year he updated one of the NHL records. The winning streak of 20 matches in a row became the longest for a league newcomer.

The last of the three, Anze Kopitar, doesn't have too many chances. His Los Angeles team is an outsider, and Kopitar himself was prevented from fully expressing himself by injury. But Evgeni Malkin should be wary of him too.

Malkin's star partner Sidney Crosby also has a vested interest in the Penguins' success. Already in his second season in the NHL, he can become the most valuable player of the championship. This would be an excellent revenge for losing the Calder Trophy last year, which went to Alexander Ovechkin.

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Regular season. Results of the latest matches. "Tampa" -- "Florida" -- 2:5, "Washington" -- "Pittsburgh" -- 3:4 -- Ovechkin "V" (0+1), Semin "V" (1+1), Gonchar "P" (0+1), Malkin "P" (0+2), "Islanders" -- "New Jersey" -- 2:3 -- Yashin "A" (1+0), Brylin "ND" (0+1), "Ottawa" -- "Boston" -- 2:3 -- Chistov "B" (0+1), "Montreal" -- "Rangers" -- 6:4 - Kovalev "M" ( 2+0), Markov (0+2), “Toronto” — “Carolina” — 6:1, “Minnesota” — “Calgary” — 0:1 (bull.), “Nashville” — “ Edmonton -- 4:3 - - Radulov "N" (1+0), "St. Louis" -- "Columbus" -- 1:4 - - Zherdev "K" (0+1), "Dallas" - - “Phoenix” – 6:0 – Zubov “D” (0+2), “Colorado” – “Vancouver” – 0:3, “San Jose” – “Los Angeles” – 3 :1.

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Eastern ConferenceIVPPOO

1. "Buffalo"	75	48	20	7	103
2. "New Jersey"	76	45	23	8	98
3. Atlanta	76	39	27	10	88
4. Ottawa	77	45	24	8	98
5. Pittsburgh	77	44	23	10	98
6. Rangers	77	39	29	9	87
7. Tampa	77	41	32	4	86
8. Montreal	77	40	31	6	86
9. "Carolina"	76	38	30	8	84
10. Toronto	76	37	29	10	84
11. Islanders	76	36	28	12	84
12. "Florida"	76	32	30	14	76
13. Boston	76	35	35	6	76
14. "Washington"	77	26	38	13	65
15. "Philadelphia"	75	20	44	11	51

Western ConferenceIVPPOO

1. "Nashville"	77	49	21	7	105
2. Anaheim	76	44	20	12	100
3. Vancouver	76	46	23	7	98
4. Detroit	76	46	19	11	103
5. "Dallas"	76	46	24	6	98
6. San Jose	77	47	26	4	98
7. Minnesota	77	45	24	8	98
8. Calgary	76	41	25	10	92
9. "Colorado"	76	39	30	7	85
10. "St. Louis"	76	31	33	12	74
11. Columbus	76	32	37	7	71
12. Edmonton	77	31	39	7	69
13. "Los Angeles"	77	26	37	14	66
14. "Chicago"	75	27	39	9	63
15. "Phoenix"	76	29	42	5	63

Andrey VDOVIN