It’s a Show Again

I had the chance to see Malkin’s fantastic goal against the Devils on Tuesday night. The play was obscene; that’s how beautiful it was, it was obscene. In any case, when the Penguins’ young stars put on a show, as they did Tuesday night when they took advantage of the Devils’ mistakes, and as they most certainly did when they pummeled the Flyers yesterday, I draw in a deep breath of "Wow!"

Because, as I heard the Pittsburgh announcers reminisce, "There used to be at a time, when Mario and Jagr and Francis were playing here, that you just looked forward to the next game because you knew it was going to be a show." The announcers went on to note that the Penguins had become something of a "traveling road show" and to note that young fans in Pittsburgh were lining up to watch the youthful stars of the Pens star on Mellon Arena ice.

In any case, I got hooked on hockey, as a kid, watching that show in Pittsburgh. I didn’t know, at the time, how incredibly spoiled I was compared to fans in other cities. I mean, Mario Lemieux and then Jaromir Jagr—who had another Hall of Fame player in Ron Francis alongside them for much of their Pittsburgh careers? I loved watching hockey, and I loved watching the show the Penguins stars used to put on whenever there was a game.

And watching Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Fleury do their thing at the start of this season, it’s just been a sigh of, Wow! Wow, I remember what that felt like as a kid. And watching and re-watching Malkin’s goal, it’s been awhile since I’ve watched a Penguin score a goal that fantastic. Sure, I saw the obscenely fantastic goals of Jagr and Mario, and I’ll always have their playoff goals etched in my memory. But Malkin’s goal Tuesday night—the fourth of many more to come, I hope—made me feel a way I hadn’t remembered feeling since I was a kid. Because when I was a kid, Jaromir Jagr was still a kid, and I remember watching him with the puck, and marveling at his skill and wondering about how much more was still to come.

Malkin’s goal gave me a glimpse, provided, of course, health stays intact, of what is to come. And to be honest, I like what I’m seeing. I haven’t been this excited about hockey, I don’t think, since the days when my Penguins were winning Cups in the early nineties. Because right now, I think I’m beginning to see, as I saw with Malkin’s goal Tuesday night, the genesis of an emergence of the core of a team that could claim the Cup—not just once, but repeatedly.

At the moment, though, I’m just enjoying the breath of "Wow" that comes when I watch the young stars do their thing, and you bet I’m going to enjoy the show whenever the Penguins play.

Oh, and guys? I’m expecting a show now. Thank you for your play, and for that expectation you’ve set so high already—because, really, I really, really love hockey whenever I see stars put on a show.