The Penguins stopped the bleeding in a big way last night, as the broke out of a 5 game losing streak and knocked off the Atlanta Thrashers. More important than the win itself was the fact that they got some much-needed production from their power play. Their power play had burned through 33 opportunities without scoring, but if you happened to have 34 in the office pool, you would have been a winner!

Petr Sykora and Sidney Crosby picked up the markers with the extra man and did so by getting to the front of the net and getting the lumber on shots from the point. The team seemed to make getting the puck to the net on the power play a main focus and it paid off. Michel Therrien was very glad to get some production from his power play unit.

“Yeah, it was great…special teams are so crucial. We have been talking a lot about it, we saw the good signs in the game against New York. We got some quality chances and didn’t capitalize on it, but tonight we capitalize on our chances and it was good…”

Though everything is still far from perfect and you it would be folly to use this game as a measuring stick, there were definitely some bright spots.

The team got a strong performance from Marc Andre Fleury, who played his best game in a couple weeks. He was called on to make a handful of huge stops late in the game that kept the Thrashers from mounting any kind of serious comeback. His consecutive saves on Erik Christensen and Ilya Kovalchuk during one flurry stand out…Atlanta was starting to show signs of life and he helped keep them off the board.

It looked like Ryan Whitney is really starting to feel comfortable being back in the line-up. He played one of his finest games since returning and picked up a couple of assists on the power play. He did a nice job with keeping the puck in at the point, getting it on the net and played a sound defensive game. Let’s keep it up! Whitney realizes that this can’t be a one and done type of situation…they have got to put together a winning streak to get back in the race.

"We can't just stop here," Whitney said. "We have to string together wins. You can't go one, then lose a few more. There has to be a streak."

Brooks Orpik was a hitting machine, picking up 10 more in the contest. He is such a warrior and had to feel better than anyone about the win. He had been taking the losing to heart.

Evgeni Malkin had his first multiple point game in quite a while. It was great to see him snag three more helpers, as he had picked up only two points in his last seven games. He looked hungry throughout the game and started to do some of the things he was doing during his point-scoring tear earlier in the season. He was shooting the puck at every opportunity, make smarter hockey plays and turning the puck over a lot less.

Sidney Crosby also played a much better game. His feet were moving non-stop during every shift and he looked a bit like his old self out there…something that hasn’t been the case over the last month or so. It is only a matter of time before his opportunities start to go in. He has been getting tons of chances as of late, but they just haven’t gone for him. That will change.

Ruslan Fedotenko set the tone early by getting into a throw down with former Penguin Colby Armstrong. The two squared off and Tank’s first punch was all that he needed. The physicality seemed to catch his teammates and coaches a bit off guard…

Coach Therrien quipped that “I think Armstrong got more surprised than me…” but was happy for the lift Tank gave the team…even though it looks like they are going to be without his services for a while as he nurses a hand injury sustained in the scrap.

“Our team was ready and certainly Fedotenko, we’re going to miss him, he has been playing some good hockey, but he really set the tone for our team,” said Therrien.

The Penguins also lost Pascal Dupuis, who is out with an undisclosed injury…there is no word on the severity of his ailment at this point.

The group was definitely feeling a lot better about itself than they had been and the feel good vibe will carry over into Nashville and Colorado, as their fathers will accompany the team on the road trip. The Penguins third annual “Dad’s trip” has kicked off and the players and staff will have a chance to spend some time with their fathers take part in a variety of activities over the next few days.

The league has also decided that the January 18th game against the New York Rangers at Mellon Arena will start at 12:30pm and be shown on NBC.

More later…