After one of the worst outings in the season in a largely lifeless 6-2 thumping at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, the Pittsburgh Penguins opened a three-game homestand with a convincing and complete win over the New York Rangers 2-0 on Tuesday night. The offense dominated possession of the puck, the defense (minus injured Brooks Orpik) came together for a solid effort and Marc-Andre Fleury did the rest making 27 saves. A very complete team effort and a satisfying win for the Pens against the conference leading Rangers.

Some more thoughts on the game:

• What a pass into space by Kris Letang to setup Evgeni Malkin for the game's first goal one minute into the second frame. Letang knew Geno would have room behind the defense if he could get the biscuit up to him and the defender made a perfect pass off the wall where Malkin could scoop in up and stalk in on Henrik Lundqvist. From there, Malkin made no mistakes going to his backhand and whipping a goal past the King.
• Steve Sullivan ended the scoring when he wisely whipped a slapper on net while the Pens were on a power play. It wasn't the hardest shot ever but it certainly was well-placed.
• Big night for the Penguins on defense. As mentioned top pair defenseman Orpik was out and they didn't miss a beat. Much maligned Paul Martin got shuffled up to the top pair with Letang and made the most of his opportunity, where for the first time in ages he seemingly made no mental or physical mistakes in terms of his positioning or play with the puck. Martin's 26:21 played is his personal most for a regulation game since December 8th.
• Letang saw the 26:21 of Martin and logged 28:41 of his own and Zbynek Michalek put in 23:11 of his own in one of his better games of the season. With a break in game action until Saturday afternoon, Dan Bylsma certainly wasn't afraid of riding his top guys for most of the night.
• Bylsma said he inserted Eric Tangradi in the lineup over Dustin Jeffrey for toughness. Tangradi's statline? 8 shifts 5:39 played, 2 hits, 1 blocked shot, 0 shots on goal. Toughness: added? (Or, more appro-pro- trade: showcased?)
• Fleury ties Tom Barrasso for first place in team history with his 22nd shutout of his career and this might have been one of the more non-descript ones ever (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Though NYR was credited with 27 shots, not many seemed dangerous or required incredibly tremendous saves. So credit the defense for that, but definitely a nod to MAF as well for keeping the sheet clean tonight.

Scoreboard watching, the Flyers and Devils both won in OT tonight, so Pittsburgh won't gain any ground on their closest current rivals in the standings, but to take 2 points out of a game against the conference's top team is always a good thing. Now a few days off and we'll wait for 2 more afternoon matinee games.

After a 6-2 drubbing where the Pens looked pretty lifeless against the Buffalo Sabres, Ray Shero's made a few call-ups. He's brought back Eric Tangradi and goalie Brad Thiessen from Wilkes-Barre. Both are intriguing, for different reasons.

Tangradi, who turned just 23 earlier this month, has played 12 games in Pittsburgh this year, mostly in a 4th line role and has been unable to generate any points. He continues to produce at the AHL level, but there are questions about if his skating and style make him a viable player in Dan Bylsma's system. Was Tangradi called up to get him in NHL action prior to next Monday's trade deadline? It seems like a possibility. Or is this just yet another chance for the young power forward to get an opportunity. Time will tell, but it seems like it is running out for Tangradi in the Penguins organization if he doesn't get it together quickly.

After veteran Brent Johnson had another poor outing in the Buffalo game, the Thiessen promotion is a head-turning one as well. Thiessen, the AHL goalie of the year last year, has regressed back to earth this season with a so-so year so far in the minors. But most in the organization believe he could be the NHL backup goalie of the future, and the only way to see if that is the case is to give him some NHL chances. After a few solid seasons, Johnson has had a rough year and hasn't been able to spell Marc-Andre Fleury. The Pens badly need to limit Fleury's appearances and giving Thiessen a chance might be the best bet. (Or of course, Fleury or Johnson may just be ill or have some sort of unreported small injury, often a cause of the game-day goalie call-up).

Either way, you lose 6-2 in the NHL and you can bet some changes are coming. Ben Lovejoy has been a frequent healthy scratch and one wonders if he could see some game time soon. Brooks Orpik did not take the morning skate today and didn't practice yesterday- which Bylsma called a maintenance day but perhaps could be more.

Below, the lines used in practice this morning.

Kunitz-Malkin-Neal
Sullivan-Staal-Dupuis
Cooke-Vitale-Asham
Tangradi-Adams-Park
(Jeffrey, O'Reilly)

Is Dustin Jeffrey really going to be the odd man out? He's played some of his best hockey in recent games and wouldn't seem like the obvious candidate to take a seat. We'll see how Bylsma is going to work it tonight when the Pens take on the conference leading New York Rangers.

The trade deadline is almost like a dance for polygamists. Everyone needs a partner, or two, or three. It's all about finding the right match to save your season, or prepare you for the next.

Some people thought the Penguins had found a match in erstwhile defenseman Hal GIll.

Gil was solid during his short spell as a Penguin, primarily because he has the wingspan of a pterodactyl. He handled a heavy load during the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup in 2009 and did so with aplomb. Yeah, he couldn't really pass or shoot, but that's didn't matter. That's not what the Penguins needed him to do.

With Gill now nearing the end of his contract, and Montreal not entertaining any thoughts of a playoff run, Gill suddenly became trade bait.

Meanwhile, the Penguins defense, an area of significant recent investment, has looked less than impressive this season. While Paul Martin has officially earned the mantle of Whipping Boy, Zbynek Michalek and Brooks Orpik haven't exactly offered up consistency this season.

Orpik, most noticeably, has been going out of his way to light up opposing skaters in the neutral zone. This provides for some wonderful 'WOW" moments, but isn't the recipe he used while developing into a top notch defenseman.

So yeah, you could say there's a need for a defenseman. But just because a defenseman is available, and was once a good fit in Pittsburgh, doesn't mean he's still a good fit in Pittsburgh.

Gill very much falls into the right spot, wrong fit category.

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Quickly now, close your eyes. Think really, really hard. I mean REALLY hard. Squint, strain, use all of the muscles on your forehead and, most importantly of all, your brain.

Now WISH! Wish really, really, really hard.

If we all put our combined wishing power together, maybe, just maybe we can wish the Penguins' 6-2 loss to the Sabres out of existence.

To make it no more, and simply allow us to bask in the afterglow of the Ray Shero's contractual consumation of the club's relationship with James Neal earlier in the day.

We can wish that Brent Johnson never had to start, and never gave up three goals, and never had to be pulled.

Or that Marc-Andre Fleury never had to enter the game in relief, and never gave up another three goals, putting up the exact same stat line as Johnson.

Perhaps we could will out of existence the combined -8 rating that Kris Letang and Paul Martin put up. And magically nullify the 2 for 11 performance Evgeni Malkin had in the face off circle (and keep wishing that he isn't actually hurt, like Hooks suggested on Twitter).

Just wish it away, and make all of it unreal.

Well, except for Deryk Engelland's sweet one-timed goal. He may have had a wish or two granted when he pulled that off.

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One of the biggest question marks of the upcoming off-season was the contract negotiations with James Neal. The Penguins, with limited cap room, were looking to re-sign the goal scoring 24 year old winger before he hit restricted free agency and were able to get that out of the way early today. From the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward James Neal to a six-year contract extension, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.

The deal begins with the 2012-13 season and runs through the 2017-18 campaign, and has an average annual value of $5 million.

Neal, 24, has emerged as one of the top goal-scoring threats in the National Hockey League in his first full campaign with Pittsburgh this year. Playing most of the season on the Penguins’ top line alongside NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin, Neal currently ranks fourth (tied) in the NHL and second on the team with a career-high 30 goals

It's a high price to pay, and now according to Capgeek the Pens have $59.1 million tied up in contracts next season. But there will be a new CBA by that time and who knows if there will be any salary rollbacks or a buyout of any players. Plus the Pens have some money tied up in Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek that they could possibly clear out via trade in order to open a roster spot for Simon Despres and see significant savings against the cap.

As for Neal, this represents a huge commitment to him. He's got a limited playoff resume and will need to score 30+ a year to justify this contract, but with his size, forechecking ability, shot and chemistry with Evgeni Malkin it definitely seems like a good gamble for Shero and the Pens to take.