-Okay, so where to start? We could discuss that Chris Carpenter is two-hitting the Tigers and has that certain 83-win team three innings from going up 2-1 in the World Series. But there is still time left in St. Louis and the Tigers are capable of coming back.

-So let’s begin with what we saw in Pittsburgh where the new Pens’ Dynamic Duo of Sid “The Kid” Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (we’ll think of a nickname later) destroyed the Devils in a 4-2 win on Versus earlier tonight. Okay…I know Malkin’s only played four games. But this guy is just sick. He’s already scored four goals in his first four games matching ex-Ranger reject Steven “No Mystery” King. The problem for the rest of the league is this Malkin guy is no scrub. Just ask Devil fans after what he did to their D tandem of Colin White and Brad Lukowich on his fourth goal (video coming ASAP) which iced the contest for the now first place Pens.

That’s right. The Pens are now sitting alone atop the Atlantic with 10 points. It is early folks but don’t you get the feeling this young fast team thinks it can compete with anyone for a division which hasn’t exactly started on fire? There’s no question that Malkin is for real. He’s got great size and speed and really plays all three zones well. And teaming him with Crosby is scary. The third guy on their line Colby Armstrong can play too and fits in. What’s even more daunting is that 18 year-old former 2nd overall pick this summer Jordan Staal looks like he’s staying this season. They had him centering the second line with Nils Ekman and Mark Recchi and the kid didn’t look a touch out of place in scoring his fourth goal in over 16:00 of action. What else should be noted? Ah. Remember that former 2003 first overall pick in net Marc-Andre Fleury? After almost losing his job in preseason, the 21 year-old netminder has been outstanding for the Pens and has played the best out of any netminder thus far in the Atlantic. In other words, the Montreal native is finally starting to fulfill expectations. Toss in that Ryan Whitney is improving all the time on the blueline and this Pens team could make a lot more noise than previously thought.
So what to make of the Devils? Well, they’ve lost three straight and been outplayed by a severe margin in all three. If not for a frantic two-goal rally in an eventual shootout loss at home to Nashville to get a point, it could be even worse. In the last two losses, they were outscored 12-3 including an unusual 8-1 blowout loss to Ottawa in a game we couldn’t even find on TV here. Still wondering where the heck FSNY2 is.

So what’s gone wrong? Well, outside of the play of the top line of the everimproving Zach Parise, Scott Gomez and supermidget Brian Gionta, they just aren’t getting much support. New team captain Patrik Elias has been MIA lately. Tonight, he was invisible. Part of the problem is he’s playing on the second line and talented freshman Travis Zajac has sat out the last two games due to an injury suffered against Nashville. When he was healthy, Elias played along with Jamie Langenbrunner to comprise that second line which looked okay. Now, Elias is playing either with Sergei Brylin or John Madden, which isn’t going to get the most out of his skill. Maybe new coach Claude Julien needs to consider giving him a few shifts with his former Egg linemates. We’ll see. Aside from the Elias sluggish start, their D just isn’t getting it done lately. Colin White and Paul Martin have struggled mightily during the last two and aren’t getting much support from the forwards on the backcheck. Quite frankly, aside from them and number one D Brian Rafalski, the rest of their blueline is ordinary. They really miss David Hale big time. Martin Brodeur is not off to the best start but it’s hard to play well with what he’s been seeing way too much of. In other words, it could’ve been a lot worse at Mellon Arena. Aside from that, the power play has looked anemic (1 PPG in its last 27) and for whatever reason, they can’t do anything in second periods (outscored 21-7). You can’t always wait for the third period to make comebacks in.

-As we’re sitting here watching the Flames lead the dismal Coyotes 3-1 in the second, Phoenix analyst Darren Pang mentioned before “lack of cohesion” to describe the Coyotes as they proceeded to somehow give up a shorthanded 2-on-0 break and goal to the washed up Tony Amonte. Yep. Coyotes hockey alright!

Man. Is there a more pathetic franchise than this one? And btw…that includes the dreadful Flyers who you know can turn it around. Since relocating from Winnipeg to Phoenix a decade ago, they have not accomplished anything. Unless you consider the continued first round playoff failures and the return of a battered Jeremy Roenick this season to be success. How is it possible that Ed Jovanovski decided to agree to a big contract with this laughingstock of a hockey club? I guess he likes cashing a bigger paycheck and can tolerate lots of losing because there’s nothing going on here. This is just a pathetic team. Just as I concluded in my NHL preview: http://www.nysportsday.com/news/combined/1159982460.php

Outside of Shane Doan, Ladislav Nagy and maybe Mike Comrie, there’s nothing going on here. That’s why after blowing out the Islanders Opening Night, they’ll fall to 1-8-0 since unless they can comeback in the third. Don’t bet against it after how Miikka Kiprusoff stoned a Yote late in that second. The rating Vezina winner has struggled thus far but tonight, looks on. So, what I want to know is is this really the franchise club owner Wayne Gretzky invested so much in including giving himself a five-year coaching extension? As my favorite classic Weezer song would say, “Say It Ain’t So.” http://youtube.com/watch?v=LpY–o5jgY8
In conclusion, I think he’d be better served coaching a Russian pee wee team in Siberia.
-Did anyone catch the Sens’ 6-2 victory over Canadian rival Toronto tonight? Good stuff. Now you could look at the score and say, ‘What’s so special about that? It was a blowout right?’ Maybe. But in a game in which Ottawa got the first five, the Leafs didn’t just pack it in. As is a Toronto custom when getting beat, there were a couple of scraps including an entertaining one between Toronto’s Wade Belak and Ottawa’s Brian McGrattan. The other was a downright beatdown from NHL bad boy Darcy Tucker on an overmatched Patrick Eaves. What else was fun about this one? For one thing, the ACC crowd was full of energy expecting their Leafs to comeback. And after Mats Sundin passed Dave Keon on the Leafs’ goalscoring list to cut it to 5-2 early in the third, it looked like they might just do it. And when Matt Stajan appeared to stuff in a rebound past Martin Gerber, the thought was would the Sens collapse? But the protesting Gerber proved to be right about Stajan kicking it in. A few minutes later, a nifty Chris Neil redirect of an Andrej Meszaros shot put the contest away.

-So are any Mets fans getting sick watching the Cards up 5-0 an inning away from pulling within two of winning this Series? Not as much as my Cubs buddy John. He’s so down on baseball but I keep telling him this is what makes it great. But he’s a depressed Cubs fan. So what would you expect? Here’s a pic of John at this moment:

Don’t worry buddy. There’s always next year!