A little bit of a hiatus won't keep me away.

Lot's going on in the Pittsburgh sporting world lately. Between the Jets and the Steelers suddenly being all good times for each other, trade rumors for Malkin, and allegations that Sid is going to boycott the All Star Game, it's a pretty big week for news. I'd like to touch on Crosby's concussion a bit more, the allegations about the All Star Game and the upcoming Pens VS Red Wings game tonight at 7:08pm at Consol.

Crosby's Concussion gate:

A lot of people still question this 'Mild Concussion' that star Center Sidney Crosby suffered earlier in the month. He was expected to be sidelined for a week, but we're now going on the 13th day since this all started. Many would of figured that Sid would be back on the ice sometime near the end of the week last week for Boston, but we didn't see him. This didn't deter the Penguins however as they still went on to win 5-2 against a Boston team that has frustrated them greatly the previous 2 appearances.

Crosby, after a recent decision by Bylsma to not address the media, finally did so about his condition; "I've definitely gotten better..." Crosby said, "It's kind of on and off. As far as symptoms, it's mostly headaches and that kind of thing. Some days you feel good, you feel like you've had progress, and there's other days that are a little bit tougher."


In terms of the All Star Game, there have been a series of rumors lately stating that Crosby's agent made comments leading towards Sid boycotting the ASG because of the lack of fines and overall lack of attention paid to the two hits to the head he took during the Winter Classic and the Tampa game on the 5th. Crosby has shot these rumors down, going on to say; "I'll be there if I can be there. I still haven't ruled out being there." So the 'Kid' wants to play in the ASG but will he? We already know he won't be a captain, which in my opinion is a good thing as it will take some of the spotlight off of Sid for now. The two Captains nominated for the ASG fantasy draft are Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.Wonder if Crosby gets picked last would Fleury say give him some crap for it?

Yet here we are, looking at a huge "rivalry" game against the Detroit Redwings at home tonight, with no Crosby to be seen on the ice, missing his 6th consecutive game. I emphasize the rivalry portion of this game because while it isn't a full on bad blooded rivalry the memories are definitely still fresh in the minds of the players on each team who were there to do battle with each other, through 7 brutal games two years in a row, for the NHL's ultimate prize. Even with Crosby out the Penguins still are lucky to have Pavel Datsyuk out of the lineup for the Wings along with both of their star goalies, Osgood and Howard are both out with injuries leaving an unproven netminder in Joey MacDonald, between the pipes against the Pens.

It's a shame not having Howard out there, since he's actually saved Crosby from a fight or a head hunt just this last year in March. They call this a fight, but really Howards facewashing of Crosby just keeps him out of an even bigger fight against Zetterberg, and Bertuzzi.

The Geno Effect

So usually when this kind of thing happens, when the Pen's are going on without their star Center, we look to the other rising star, Evgeni Malkin. However, as of late Geno hasn't been the Geno of the 08-09 season, where he went on to put up incredible numbers(113pts) in the regular season and leading the playoffs in scoring with 36pts in 24 games. Going on to win the Conn Smythe trophy and of course, Lord Stanley's Cup. The 09-10 season saw a decline in Geno's performance where in his 67 games played he put up 77points but like the rest of the team, appeared to be in some kind of hangover after hoisting the cup, however Malkin was battling on and off again knee ailments.

As it stands right now, Malkin is 3rd on the Penguins in scoring, at 36points, but this is through 41 games. Is it an issue with the lines Geno plays on? You might think so, but Malkin has spent just as much time on a line with Kunitz and Crosby as he has on a line with Cooke and Talbot. Now that Crosby is injured Geno's been moved around to a couple of other lines as well, specifically tonight, starting at Center with Dupuis and Kunitz as his wingmen. The lines are noticeably one of the biggest factors, in the 08-09 season Geno was paired with Ryan Malone and or Petr Sykora, both of which were averaging 18-20 goals a season, where as Cooke and Talbot average about 7-10 goals a season. Is this the factor that's leading to his lack of stellar performances?

Due to the drop off in point production it's no wonder that people are crying to trade Geno or getting all caught up in the whirlwind of trade rumors that is already floating around, but Penguins GM Ray Shero said it best when speaking about the GM of the Wild Chuck Fletcher: "When Chuck goes to Minnesota, they have players, but they ain't these guys. It's not close," Shero said. "It's a lot more difficult for Chuck, that's for sure. Whenever Chuck calls and says, 'What are you up to,' I say, 'Chuck, I can't give you Crosby or Malkin, that's all I can tell ya.'"

Shero seems pretty adamant that he won't be dishing out Malkin, so for now, lets just drop the trade allegations already.

Ravens vs Steelers rematch proves that the Steelers are still AFC North top dogs:

A shootout, who saw that coming in the AFC north rematch between two of, if not, the two biggest rivals in the NFL today? I certainly didn't see it coming, maybe a 17-14 nail biter but a 31-24 bunker buster? Yowza. The speculation leading up to the game was that the turnover battle was going to be the key indicator of how this game was going to go. At the half, the Ravens were winning the turnover battle with a +2 including 14 points off turnovers, at the end of the game though the Steelers ruled the day with a huge performance from Ryan Clark defensively to come up with not only a forced fumble but also a huge interception to keep the game alive.

The play that really set the whole game into winning formation for the Steelers was this amazing catch by Antonio Brown, one of two Rookie wideouts, along with Emmanuel Sanders who has been nothing but money, earning the young receiving duo's nickname of "Young Money". This catch, energizes the Steelers  and turns the tide of the momentum for good in their direction, helping them go on to lock in another AFC championship game this weekend against the Jets.

All and all, Saturday was a good day to be a Pittsburgh Fan.

For tonight lets lay down the law against Detroit!