Penguins back in Stanley Cup form

Time took a page out of the playbook of another GOAT and started punching back.

Since Jan. 1, no one in the NHL has been better than Crosby, who has picked up 31 points in his past 19 games. Of course, it’s not just the Penguins captain who is playing rope-a-dope with the rest of the league.

Evgeni Malkin, who is tied for fourth in league scoring with 66 points, has scored 30 points of those points in the last 19 games. Phil Kessel, who is also tied for fourth in scoring, has 24 points in 19 games.

The result is that a Penguins team that was stumbling around in a daze a few months ago is in second place in the Metropolitan Division and once again looking like the team to beat heading into the playoffs.

“The top players are the guys who drive our team,” said Rutherford. “It takes contributions from everybody. Clearly, Sid, Geno and Phil have been very good pretty much all year.” But clearly, everyone was aware that our team was better than what we were doing. And it was a matter of getting back to the urgency and the focus that it takes to be a good team. Since the midway point on, we’ve been able to do that.”

For the first three months of the season, Pittsburgh hovered around the .500 mark as it struggled to string together wins. Goaltending was mostly to blame, with backup Antti Niemi placed on waivers after allowing 16 goals in his first three games and Matt Murray unable to take hold of the No. 1 job now that Marc-Andre Fleury wasn’t around.

Rutherford made a couple of minor moves, trading for forward Riley Sheahan in October and defenceman Jamie Oleksiak in December. He tried something even bigger, but he said they fell apart at the “finish line.”

Ultimately, it was the players who pulled themselves out of the funk right when the games started to matter. Pittsburgh went 9-3-0 in January and heads into Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs having lost once in regulation in the last 10 games.

“Right around the midway point, we went into Philadelphia and played a real strong game there and won and just seemed to keep going from there,” said Rutherford. “Now you can go throughout our roster and everybody’s playing their role and playing the way they’re capable of playing.”

Rutherford said he would still like to add a centre at the deadline and there’s no question a top-line winger like Rick Nash or Max Pacioretty would look great next to Crosby. Then again, the way the Penguins and Crosby are playing these days, they might not need any reinforcements.

“We’ve gone through our period where we’ve had time to get rejuvenated, so I don’t have any concern about that,” said Rutherford. “Our team that we have right now is good enough to win.”