Penguins on mean streak

By Mike Prisuta
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, January 17, 2008



The Penguins' Georges Laraque (27) tangles with New York Rangers' Colton Orr (28) in the first seven seconds of the first period of NHL hockey action at Pittsburgh Monday, Jan. 14, 2008. Both players served a five-minute penalty for fighting.
AP photo

When assessing all that's changed with the Penguins of late, don't forget to factor the following into the equation:

A fight broke out seven seconds into the game Monday night against the Rangers, and the Penguins started it.

Started it?

The Penguins all but predetermined the game-opening bout between heavyweights Georges Laraque and Colton Orr.

Their motivation resulted in part from what had taken place Dec. 18 at Madison Square Garden. The Pens lost to the Rangers that night, 4-0, and they took a physical beating in the process.
"We looked like kindergarten kids against men," Laraque said.

Remembering as much, and recalling the Rangers' success matching their fourth line against Sidney Crosby's line this season, the Pens opted for a pre-emptive strike.

Upon learning Orr would start the game, the Pens decided to send Laraque, Jeff Taffe and Adam Hall out for the opening face-off.

And they positioned Laraque at left wing, directly across from Orr.

"I'm a right wing, and I go to the left," Laraque said. "I think Colton knew I was going to ask him (to drop the gloves). I would never be in front of him (normally).

"It was too obvious. I don't even think our center worried about winning the face-off."

That's far from the only example of how the Pens have ratcheted up their physical resolve of late, but it's the most recent.

"I wanted to set the tone and show that this game we weren't going to be intimidated physically," Laraque said. "When you fight like that, all the guys on the team kind of respond.

"You saw Geno (the normally mild-mannered Evgeni Malkin) throwing body checks."

Such events tend to have a ripple effect, and it's finishing checks and playing with an edge that ultimately makes a difference once the gloves are picked back up.

But dropping them in the first place when necessary, and the sudden roster-wide willingness to do so, has helped jump-start a Penguins season that had been stuck in neutral.

The Pens have won 18 of their past 24 games in the wake of Monday night's 4-1 thumping of Orr and the Rangers, a resurgence that's due mostly to Ty Conklin's goaltending.

Other compelling storylines range from the obvious (Crosby and Malkin) to the unforeseen (Tyler Kennedy).

But factored in there somewhere is the Penguins' collective decision to take the team-toughness concept they embraced to a certain degree last season to another level.

"Absolutely," Colby Armstrong said.

That might be a by-product of Laraque being Laraque this season, as opposed to the guy who showed up admittedly out of shape at the trading deadline a year ago, the result of having spent too much time in the "country club atmosphere" in Phoenix.

Or, it might have been incubated during the Pens' 8-2 loss Dec. 11 in Philadelphia, a streetfight that included a combined eight fighting majors and eight misconducts.

Whatever, they're 10-1-1 since that 4-0 loss in New York, a run that began two nights later in Boston in a game highlighted by, of all things, Crosby's first NHL fight.

"We can adjust to any type of game that anybody's throwing us," Laraque said. "We're a fast team, but we can also be physical, which is different from what this team has been in the past. We have a lot of guys that can answer the bell."

And a lot of guys who suddenly don't mind ringing it.


Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at mprisuta@tribweb.com or 412-320-7923.