The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that captain and reigning MVP Sidney Crosby will return to the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay. Crosby missed 21 games due to a high ankle sprain he suffered on Jan. 18. The team originally expected Crosby to return mid-March, so this is a surprise. Whether Crosby can make a successful comeback will arguably determine the Penguins regular season and postseason hopes.

During his absence, the Penguins registered a 11-6-4 record, utilizing Evgeni Malkin’s dominance (36

Marian Hossa suffered a sprained MCL in his Pittsburgh Penguins debut and the team expects him to miss about one week with the injury. The Pittsburgh Union-Tribune reported the injury after the Penguins 5-1 loss to Boston on Thursday night. In my opinion, this news will not only hurt the Penguins on the ice, especially since Sidney Crosby is also on the sidelines, but off the ice as well. The team traded awa several of its young players and a first round draft choice for Hossa, an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and now has to overcome his loss with a group of minor leaguers.

The Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference has never been so exciting. As of right now the New Jersey Devils sit atop both the division and the conference, but as we all know, this could change over night with the Pittsburgh Penguins only one point behind the Devils. The New York Rangers are also playing some of their best hockey of the season, making the task of winning the division that much harder.

The

Martin Brodeur showed many signs of slowing down and aging at the beginning of this season. A 14-year veteran, Brodeur played uninspired hockey in the opening month (3-6-0, 3.02 GAA), allowing weak, atypical goals, and more importantly, losing more games than expected. Fortunately for the Devils team and their die-hard fans alike, the "new and seemingly aging" Brodeur did not last for more than six weeks. Since the middle of November, he has returned to the Brodeur that we are more familiar with: the record-breaking (22 wins away from tying Patrik Roy’s

Here are some interesting game notes from Game 62 between the visiting Islanders and Devils. My game story here. Playing in front of a rare sellout crowd of 17, 625, the Devils concluded a 15 of 18-game

Citing reports in the NY Daily News, the New York Rangers and goalie Henrik Lundqvist have agreed upon a 6-year extension worth about $6.5 million per season. The 25-year-old netminder earned $4.25 million this season and would have been a restricted free agent if he had not signed before July 1. The organization will likely make an official announcement sometime in the next