Who would of thought one year would make this kind of difference?  As the Stanley Cup finals continue to move forward,the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to improve and there’s no better evidence of this than Evgeni Malkin.

The billing for this year’s Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins match up was a more confident and experience Penguins team against the truely professional Red Wings.  We’re seeing just that.  Game 4’s second period explosion from the Penguins could very well be a turning point in the series.

So while Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby (oh yeah, that guy – we’ve nearly forgotten about him with Geno’s play) are the hero’s, there’s a number of other unhearlded Penguins who deserve kudos: specifically  Maxime Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Ruslan Fedotenko has 13 playoff points in Pittsburgh’s 21 playoff games (7 goals, 6 assists) – not too shabby.  Averaging a goal every second game certainly forces defenders to take note of him, as well as Malkin.  Defenseman have to cheat somewhere and Fedotenko has really stepped up his playoff game.

Maxime Talbot has 10 points in Pittsburgh’s 21 playoff games (6 goals, 4 assists) – again, not too shabby.  Although only one of Talbot’s goals is a game winning goal, it’s worth noting the timing of each to be impecable.  Talbot’s timely slapshot that beat Cam Ward in the Conference Finals, right after a penalty kill was certainly a boost and a turning point in the series.  Talbot’s fight with Flyer’s tough guy Dan Carcillo was the spark the Penguins needed to get through the second round and his forechecking has opened up space for Malkin and Fedotenko to work their magic. 

Secondary scoring is an absolute must for deep playoffs runs – a good reason why Pittsburgh are two wins away from the Stanley Cup.  Talbot is a +6 and Fedotenko is a +8.  Talk about a gritty scoring line who’s getting things done for Pittsburgh, while Crosby continues to the head-to-head match up with Henrik Zetterberg.

Stay classy, Max and Ruslan

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