That's because the Penguins won't be at full strength for Monday's showdown with the Bruins, as NHL leading scorer Sidney Crosby remains sidelined with a concussion.
Boston certainly can relate to losing a star player to a head injury as the Bruins have dealt with Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard missing long stretches with severe concussions in recent years. Considering that Savard's concussion was caused by a cheap shot from Penguins forward Matt Cooke in Pittsburgh last March 7, the Bruins probably have a little less sympathy for the Penguins' plight than they would for most teams.
Other than a brief cameo in the second round of the playoffs, Savard didn't return to the lineup until early December, and he has still not come close to returning to his pre-injury form.
Crosby's concussion was caused by a combination of a blindside hit from Washington's David Steckel in the Winter Classic and another check from Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman in the following game. The injury doesn't appear to be nearly as serious as Savard's, though Crosby still complained about the lack of a suspension, seemingly without realizing the irony of his own teammate Cooke getting off scot-free for a far more obviously deliberate attack.
"I didn't like them," Crosby said of the hits while speaking to reporters for the first time since the injury on Saturday. "You talk about headshots and dealing with them, and that's been something that's been a pretty big point of interest from everybody — GMs and players. When I look at those two hits … when we talk about blindside, that's a big word. Unsuspecting player. There's no puck there on both of them. Direct hit to the head on both of them. If you go through the criteria, I think they fit all those.
"On the Steckel one, it's tough," Crosby added. "It's really tough to decide if he meant to or didn't mean to. I feel like he could have gotten out of the way and avoided me. Whether he tried to hurt me, only he knows. I guess we'll never know that, but you still have to be responsible out there."
It would be nice if Crosby delivered that exact message to Cooke.
In the meantime, the Bruins best keep their own heads up when Cooke is on the ice, while trying to take advantage of the Crosby-less Penguins with two very important points on the line. Getting those points won't be easy, as Pittsburgh has proven in the past that it is capable of winning even without Crosby.
Crosby has missed 41 games in his first six seasons in the NHL, and Pittsburgh is 21-12-8 in those games. The Penguins were 16-9-4 without him in his only extended absence with an ankle injury in 2007-08 and went 5-0-1 without him in the next two seasons.
But this year the Penguins may be more vulnerable without Crosby. They've lost the first two games his missed, scoring just one goal as they fell 2-1 in a shootout to Montreal and were shut out 4-0 by Minnesota.
Pittsburgh didn't have the scoring depth it has possessed in recent years even before Crosby was sidelined. Outside of Crosby, only Evgeni Malkin (15) and Chris Kunitz (13) have double-digit goals this season, while just four players have over 20 points. The Bruins, for all their offensive struggles at times, have four players with 10-plus goals and six with more than 20 points.
Pittsburgh did just get Jordan Staal back from foot and hand injuries, but he doesn't have a point in the four games he's played. Malkin remains a threat, but he has no points in the first two games without Crosby and is on pace for just 68 points this year. That's below his career-worst 77 in just 67 games last year, and well off the 85, 106 and 113 points he put up in his first three seasons in Pittsburgh.
After blowing a late two-goal lead in Montreal on Saturday, the Bruins can't take anything for granted, but facing the Penguins without Crosby certainly gives them a better chance to get back on track and put that debacle behind them.
