Ray Fittipaldo

He's got nine goals in 19 games, and he hasn't gone more than two games without scoring a goal.

And over the course of a year, that's a 40-goal pace.

So, hey, have you seen anything that makes you think that Chinnikov couldn't score 35 goals a year?

I haven't.

He looks like a guy.

If he plays with a guy like Malkin, he's going to be productive.

And, boy, what a steal that was for Kyle Dubas.

I really think he comes back earlier than four weeks.

I mean, I think he comes back in the month of March.

I just don't know when.

I think a lot of times when you have a situation like Sid being hurt,

You think of how the media is going to react to that, okay?

So if you say two weeks, every day Dan Mews is going to be asked, what's the status of Sidney Crosby?

Everybody's going to be wondering where he is.

All right, two weeks is up.

Why isn't he back?

You know what I mean?

If you say four weeks, you've got more runway before people start bugging you about when he's coming back.

So I think there's a bigger window there that the Penguins can maneuver within, and I wouldn't be surprised at all knowing Sid that he'll come back earlier.

The Capitals have had a tendency to really bring their level of play up.