Since Malkin and Crosby have been on the Pens' roster, it's usually fallen on Malkin to carry the load when Crosby has been sidelined. The script has been flipped for the time being, and it's Crosby's turn to carry the load without Malkin, who has been diagnosed with a concussion. With the pressure firmly on 87's back, he has to bring it to another level. It's nausating to credit Crosby for anything because he is just too good, but there is no better player in the NHL right now.

Sunday night, he was next level. He had two goals and an assist. He even took time to watch the Oscars on the bench.

Denzel got robbed, btw. Powerful performance in Flight.

Huge road trip this week:

Tues. -- Florida

Thurs. -- Staalapalooza in Carolina

Sat. -- Therrien has the Habs moving. That's gonna be an amazing game.

Recap:

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Via the Root Sports feed:

Crosby becomes the first person in CEC history to be able to use the wireless.

Could you imagine anyone else doing such a thing?

Wonder if there will be outrage about this from Don Cherry or some old annoying player? Mario Lemieux probably would have been looking up pics of elite wine if he had an iPad on the bench.

Pens got out to their usual lead and almost let the Lightning crawl back. Beau Bennett got his first career goal.

Recap in the a.m.

Tampa Bay Lightning (9-7-1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (12-6-0)

ROOT, NBCSN, TSN2 - 7:30 pm/et

Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA

Maybe if everyone speculates and guesses hard enough and asks enough questions to enough people, Evgeni Malkin's injury will heal itself.

If there even is an injury at all, that is.

Also, there's a hockey game today between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning lead the Southeast Division. The Penguins lead the Atlantic Division.

The Penguins will wear their blue jerseys again today.

This can only mean that the terrible and horrible alleged "blue jersey curse" will lead to the destruction of the entire ice surface and everyone inside the arena tonight. In the chaos, Victor Hedman will seek out Evgeni Malkin in the press box and hit him from behind just seconds before the entire building goes up in flames. The smoldering debris that is left behind will be declared the winner of the game. 

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TIMELINE:

Friday night: Malkin takes a vicious slide into the boards and looks non-Geno. He leaves the game, and everyone waits with bated breath on an update.  Late Friday night, there were unconfirmed Geno sightings at a Pittsburgh emergency room.

Saturday: Rossi reports, according to multiple sources, that Geno has experienced severe headaches and mild disorientation.

Here is what didn't happen

Crosby: "How are you feeling, Geno?"

Malkin: "Well, Sid, I am experiencing mild disorientation and severe headaches. Big Gulps, huh? Okay, see you later."

Crosby: "Hey, Rob, guess what Geno told me."

Logical Scenarios

1. A team doctor examined Geno, and that information somehow got filtered down to Rossi. 

2. Someone just wanted to be a dick and mislead Rossi.

3. Troy Crosby incepted Rossi in his dreams. (Not logical, but you can't trust people that wear visible gold chains, in our opinion.)

Given the Pens' recent history with concussions and the severity of Geno's impact, there was no reason for anyone to suspect Rossi's reporting didn't have some backing.

Until Sunday morning.

Bylsma said in a presser that Malkin hasn't experienced headaches or disorientation as of late. Later, Dejan at the Trib asked Bylsma for clarification, and Bylsma said Malkin hasn't experienced headaches at any point.

Combine all that with Crosby being quoted as saying that Malkin himself said he was "feeling better," then it's safe to say something is off here.

But who really gives a shit

It sounds like Malkin doesn't have any lingering concussion-like symptoms, and he may not have had any symptoms at all. THAT IS AWESOME. Again, given the Pens' history with star players and concussions, they would be insane not to err on the side of caution with Geno.

We posted something a few weeks ago about NHL realignment being voted on near the end of February. Here are the realignment conferences, or divisions, that @FriedgeHNIC threw onto Twitter Saturday evening:

Puck Daddy has a take on this, as well.

Realignment probably got shut down last season because it was the NHLPA's first move in the lockout that was coming down the pike. Now that everyone is listening to Jewel together again, realignment is pretty much a lock.

These new rumored divisions are interesting. First thing is that the traditional Western divisions only have 7 teams each, compared to the traditional Eastern divisions having 8 each. It's hard to imagine a scenario where the NHL wouldn't keep the East and West conferences balanced, so that's what stumps us about these divisions.

A secret lies with that "wild card" tweet. Given the higher odds of making the playoffs out West, maybe the East enacts a new 8 seed vs. 9 seed one-game playoff or something to get into the dance.

Two big things about these divisions:

1. Detroit/Chicago rivalry ends. Wah. Detroit/Toronto rivalry will be amazing.

2. Columbus will be in the Pens' division. Yes, yes, yes.

We saw this in the comments last night.

The PG has news on it:

A Pittsburgh Police officer working an off-duty detail saved the life of a Penguins fan who had a heart attack while walking to the Consol Energy Center for tonight's game against the Florida Panthers.
Zone 1 officer Forrest Hodges performed CPR and used an automatic defibrillator on the 66-year-old man, who had planned to attend the game with his family, according to officers in the Hill District. He suffered the heart attack between 5:30 and 6 p.m., officers said.

Wow scary stuff. Heroic actions by Forrest Hodges.
 

The following is how we fully expect the media (and some fans) to react regarding Evgeni Malkin's concussion. This is not our opinion. This is a joke.

Evgeni Malkin is experiencing concussion symptoms. Or so we're told. Of course, Malkin hasn't spoken to the media directly about the injury. It's just another sign that the Russian star doesn't "get it." The injury happened YESTERDAY and we still don't have a comment from Malkin. We don't know anything about his status. We deserve to know. THE FANS deserve to know! 

At this point we don't even know what type of sports car his doctors have compared him to! IS THAT FAIR!?