The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Continued form pg. 5 The answer so far: One that struggles to hover around playoff contention. Which is really too bad, because as awesome as Crosby is, he is not the Penguins. Indeed scoring goals has not been much of a challenge for the Pens. Evgeni Malkin has been his usual brilliant self, competing for the Art Ross following a shortened 2010-11 campaign. Helping to further fill the offensive void is winger James Neal, on pace for a career year, along with Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal and first-year Pen Stevie Sullivan. Pittsburgh's goals-against record remains impressive, something for which goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the Pens' top two D-men, the injured Kris Letang and Matt Niskanen, deserve ample credit. I'm sure coach Dan Bylsma tells them this every day, but the Pens must find a way to look past the uncertainty surrounding Crosby and focus on what they can do to win games. Hockey is and always will be a team sport. Pleasant Surprise: James Neal Biggest Disappoint-ment: Paul Martin St. Louis Blues Written off before the season began, the Blues have been one of this season's surprises. As I write this they are, stunningly enough, fourth overall in the NHL. It has happened largely due to an exceptionally stingy defensive record. St. Louey's core of blueliners are not well known or overly experienced, but they are effective: Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Carlo Colaiacovo and Roman Polak. The goaltending tandem of Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak has been stellar, forming probably the best netminding duo in the league. Up front the Blues aren't going to blow anyone away with their offensive prowess. They carry a middle-of-the-pack offense that has more or less peaked. David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Alex Steen and Jason Arnott are capable, if unimpressive, scorers. That said, Chris Stewart, Matt D'Agostini and Patrik Berglund are each capable of 20-plus goals. Thus the Blues have a reliance on defence. As long as Ken Hitchcock focuses on keeping goals out _ something he's known for _ St. Louis should be able to compete at a high level heading into the post-season. Pleasant Surprise: T.J. Oshie Biggest Disappoint-ment: Patrik Berglund Winnipeg Jets Amid all the excitement surrounding the NHL's long-awaited return to Manitoba, not many predicted the Jets would be in the playoff hunt halfway through the season. Well, here they are, still competitive for one of the lower seeds in the Eastern Conference. Which is surprising considering Winnipeg doesn't particularly excel at anything. As of this writing, both their goals-for and goals-against records rank 20th in the league. What the Jets seem to possess is heart, living up to their motto, 'Fuelled by Passion.' Dustin Byfuglien stands as one of the upper echelon blueliners in the game today. He is the player around whom the Jets will be built for years to come. I'm also a big fan of Tobias Enstrom, though his defensive play has been criticized. Up front the Jets have a modest collection of players such as captain Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, the fast-improving Evander Kane and Kyle Wellwood. Between the pipes they have Ondrej Pavelec and Chris Mason, who have been neither awful nor spectacular, but something in between. Winnipeg is already overachieving. If they can manage to further punch above their weight, the playoffs are within their enthusiastic grasp. Pleasant Surprise: Evander Kane Biggest Disappoint-ment: Andrew Ladd
