Penguins 4 - Senators 3: Motion Defeated!

First the Devils, and now the Senators. It's nice to know Sid and the boys can beat some good teams as they prepare for Sidney's first playoff run.

Sidney was the game's first start with 1 goal, 1 assist, -1, and 4 shots on goal in 19:26 of ice time.

The Penguins continue to get little efforts from the role players, as Jarkko Ruutu has turned himself into a go-to guy in shootouts.

From Yahoo!:

Jarkko Ruutu is the Pittsburgh Penguins' fourth-line winger, a player with 30 career goals in parts of seven seasons.

But now he has become a go-to guy in the shootout.

Ruutu's backhand move got the puck past goalie Ray Emery and Pittsburgh tied the Ottawa Senators for fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 4-3 win Sunday night.

"He'll get another shot, that's for sure," said Penguins coach Michel Therrien of Ruutu, who is 3-for-6 in his career in the shootout. "I asked him before how he felt, and he said, 'I feel pretty good about it."'

Pittsburgh's victory gives each team 92 points, with Ottawa having one more victory and the Penguins holding a game in hand.

Sidney Crosby and Ryan Whitney had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have won five in a row, are 7-0-1 in their past eight and moved within two points of the New Jersey Devils for the Atlantic Division lead.

Daniel Alfredsson and Antoine Vermette also scored for the Senators, who are 4-0-4 in their past eight and 12-1-5 in their past 18.

Ruutu was used in the shootout for only the second time this season since replacing Evgeni Malkin in that role last week. Malkin is the team's leading goal scorer who has more goals in his rookie season, then Ruutu does in his career.

"I'm confident in (shootouts), and it's great when the coach trusts you," said Ruutu.

Five of the past eight Penguins games have been decided in a shootout -- including a 5-4 Pittsburgh win in Ottawa 12 days ago.

This game was decided by a move so slow and calculated by Ruutu that Therrien was compelled to say with a smile, "He took his time, let's put it that way."

"It was weird, man," said Emery. "He came down really slow, a guy like that who doesn't get many minutes coming down in the shootout, you know he's got something coming up. It was a funny move. I didn't know what to expect."

Hmm, so Jarkko Ruutu may have a use, after all??

BTW, Recchi with 0 goals in 13 games. Sidney better start dishing him the puck a bit more.

Penguins 3 - Devils 0: Thibault Shuts the Door!

The good times keep rolling for the Penguins as Jocelyn Thibault had his first shutout in over 3 years(!) as the Penguins defeated the Devils 3-0.

Sidney seems to have shaken the slump as he racked up another assist and +1 in 19:06 of ice time.

From Yahoo!:

If the last two games are any indication, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins could go a long way in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault stopped 25 shots for his first shutout in more than three years and the Penguins completed a two-night sweep of the conference's top two teams with a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

"It's awesome, the past two nights," Thibault said after giving starter Marc-Andre Fleury a break. "I thought we played great last night against Buffalo even though it was 5-4, and to come here to New Jersey and shut them out, it's tremendous. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is a good start."

The Penguins' third straight win pulled them to within four points of the first-place Devils (92) in the Atlantic Division. Both teams have 10 games left in the regular season.

"We are playing good hockey," Crosby said. "There have been times the past few weeks where we fought our way back or got a good bounce and got two points. That was hard work. We didn't play 60 minutes. That can burn you. Now we are playing 60 minutes and getting rewarded for it."

Jarkko Ruutu scored a fluky game-winner off a Devils' stick and set up an insurance tally by Erik Christensen as the Penguins won for the fifth time in six games (5-0-1). Jordan Staal also scored.