Mike Colligan delivers a monster piece here.

This year, the unit struggled throughout the regular season, (killing at only 80 percent, 25th in the league), but has been an underrated strength for the Penguins so far in their matchup with the Islanders (88%).

 

So what do all of these numbers mean?  Why the Jekyll and Hyde act?

Assistant coach Tony Granato has directed the penalty kill for years and the system rarely varies from night to night.  Even the personnel — Craig Adams, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke up front; Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, Kris Letang on defense — is pretty much the same as its always been.  The Penguins lost penalty killers Jordan Staal and Zbynek Michalek in the offseason, but both players were big reasons the PK unit failed in prior playoff campaigns.

One explanation is goaltending.

It is a great breakdown. Go here to read the whole thing,  Colligan: How Does the Penguins Penalty Killer Work?

Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and John Tavares are the finalists for the 2013 Hart Trophy.

From the NHL:

Crosby, who previously won the Hart in 2007, finished tied for third in the League with 56 points despite sitting out the final month of the regular season with a broken jaw. He still managed to hold the lead in the League scoring race until the final week of the season, and his 1.56 points per game led the League. He also had 15 goals and a career-best plus-26 rating. His strong play helped the Penguins win the Atlantic Division title for the first time since the 2007-08 season and earn the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

A win by Crosby would give the Penguins back-to-back Hart winners; last year's trophy went to Penguins center Evgeni Malkin.

Tyler Kennedy.

Mike Lange in rare form. Great job by Benstonium as always.

Tyler Kennedy changed EVERYTHING.

HIs goal at the 7:25 mark of the second period got the Pens rolling. Douglas Murray followed up with a goal a minute later, and the Pens snapped out of whatever funk remained from Tuesday night.

Then Sidney Crosby did this:

Letang added a powerplay goal to make it 4-0.

And. oh. by the wa.y Tomas Vokoun shut the door in a stirring performance and got the shutout.

Game 6. 7:30. 7:08 On the Isle. 

New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Series Tied 2-2

ROOT, NBCSN, MSG Plus, TSN - 7:00 pm/et

Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA

Just win the hockey game. And stop playing like you did for most of games two, three and four.

Benstonium delivers.

It used to be a good photoshop could provide some humor in stressful times like these. But GIFs have taken over.

And the bigger the games have gotten the better the GIFs. Here are three from the last two nights that are great:

This GIF was a bigger story than Bruins/Leafs game. [ Awful Announcing ]

This GIF deals with the  controversial goal in Sens/Habs from Tuesday. And may be the funniest GIF of the year:

And this GIF last night from Rangers/Caps focuses on A.O. and his...defense.