There is no denying Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are hockey’s top one-two punch. Any team losing just one player of their ilk would struggle.

Both players being out for an extended period? It might be a death sentence for any team’s playoff hopes, but the Pittsburgh Penguins have done the unthinkable.

Without their top two playmakers, Pittsburgh is surging in the Eastern Conference. With nine games remaining, the Penguins are fourth in the East with 92 points, just five points behind first-place Philadelphia.

The Penguins are 16-11-4 since Crosby was lost to concussion-like symptoms following two brutal hits suffered in the first two games in January. Crosby has started skating again but won’t see game action anytime soon. Meanwhile, Malkin tore up his knee and is lost for the season.

But Pittsburgh keeps on trucking. Since beating Boston 3-2 in overtime on March 5, the Penguins are 5-2, including Monday’s 5-4 shootout victory at Detroit. The Penguins can move even closer to the top spot in the East when they hit the road Thursday for Philadelphia.

—30—

Pittsburgh rarely put any pressure on the Capitals in their zone and seemed lost without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the ice.

That didn’t mean that things didn’t get testy at times, as both teams didn’t mind dropping the gloves.

The Penguins did manage to inflict an injury on defenseman Mike Green when a slap shot hit him in the side of the face.

The injury caused him to miss the rest of the game and the Capitals to play with just five defenseman, but it had little effect on the final outcome.

It seems that Malkin is all but assured of missing the rest of the season, but the Penguins aren’t ready to make that call.

The team said it is still not sure whether or not Malkin will need surgery, but it seems very likely that it will be necessary.

Losing Malkin would be a devastating blow to the team’s Stanley Cup hopes, especially with Sidney Crosby still banged up as well.

Injuries have really taken their toll on this team, and just making the playoffs might become a challenge.

Crosby has missed several games since being diagnosed with a concussion, and his recovery has been a slow process.

The team is being very cautious with their star, as they do not want concussions to become a regular occurence.

It remains unknown when Crosby will be ready to return to game action, but the Penguins have stressed that they will exercise extreme caution and not rush him back.

He is missing the All-Star game because of the post-concussion syndrome and is closing in on one month since he played in his last contest.

The Pittsburgh Penguins kept pace with Philadelphia in the race for the Atlantic Division lead and the top spot inn the Eastern Conference on Saturday.

Jordan Staal scored a goal and assisted on another tally, and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 44 saves as the Penguins won 3-2 at Boston.

Pittsburgh stayed one point behind the Flyers in the race for the top spot in both the division and the conference.

Chris Kunitz opened the scoring in the first period, and Pascal Dupuis’ goal in the second made it 2-0 Penguins. The Bruins rallied to tie the game with two goals in a 13-second span of the second period.

Staal then scored the game-winning goal at the 3:25 mark of the third period.

Pittsburgh is home for three of its next four games, starting with a showdown with Western Conference powerhouse Detroit on Tuesday at home.

—30—

The Pittsburgh Penguins skated away from the 2008-09 season with the crown jewel, beating Detroit to win the Stanley Cup.

The defense of the championship fell short of a repeat.

Pittsburgh made the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins played well at times (winning 11 games in October, for example), but struggled with injuries and inconsistent play at times during the season.

In the first round of the playoffs, Pittsburgh dropped Game 1 at home to Ottawa, but then rebounded to win the series in six games. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Pittsburgh faced No. 8 seed Montreal, which would upset the Penguins and end their reign as champions.

Now comes the new season. Canadian Olympic hero Sidney Crosby leads a star-studded lineup into action, on the path to return to the top of the mountain. The journey begins for Pittsburgh on Oct. 7 against cross-state rival Philadelphia.

—30—

Pittsburgh once again fell behind in the first period, which had been a major problem in the series.

The team went down 2-0 after the first period and then 4-0 no long thereafter before showing signs of life.

They were able to cut the lead to 4-2 by the end of the second frame, but would get no closer.

The loss also closed out the final game at The Igloo, as the team will move into a new arena for next season.

With four losses in the past five games, maybe the Olympics are coming at just the right time for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the third time in four games, the Pens fell in extra time, this time falling Sunday at home to Nashville in a shootout, 4-3. With the loss, the Penguins hit the Olympic break at 36-22-4, just one point behind New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division and 14 behind Washington in the Eastern Conference.

The Penguins opened the scoring with a Sidney Crosby power-play goal at the 14:43 mark of the first. Crosby’s goal, his 42nd of the year, tied Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the league lead entering the Olympic break. Matt Cooke scored at 2:09 of the second, and Brooks Orpik made it 3-2 Pittsburgh at the 4:51 mark of the third.

Nashville tied the game with 7:43 left on a Shea Weber goal.

The Penguins open the stretch drive on March 2 with a home game against Buffalo.

—30—

The Penguins have fired off out of the gate and are currently undefeated (4-0-0) on the road and sitting in first place in their division.

Even more impressive is the fact that the Penguins are winning games even without goals from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

I’m not sure any team in the NHL can beat the Penguins right now, but there is still a long, long way to go in the season.

Crosby has been dealing with a groin injury he suffered during their most recent preseason game against Columbus.

He is back on the ice skating for the first time since the injury and feels close to being ready for the regular season.

I’m sure he doesn’t want to miss Friday night for the world, as the Penguins will hoist their Stanley Cup champions banner to the top of Mellon Arena.