Just a few things that caught my eye:

• Super Gino strikes again -- two goals and a helper this time. Evgeni Malkin credits his recent outstanding play to his parents' arrival from Russia and specifically his mother's homemade soup. You read that right. Gino is powered by borscht. He's full of beef, beets, beans, cabbage and potatoes. No wonder no one wants to go near him.

• And here Eric Staal thought finding a cab in Pittsburgh was tough. Try finding the net. Three games, no goals, one helper, minus-6 and 12 shots. Maybe Mrs. Malkin can help him, too.

• Back to Malkin for a sec. You know I'm not a huge fan but I am duly impressed, particularly by his new-found willingness to crash the net. He keeps that up and he'll have a big fan in his writer. I might even try the soup.

• Patrick Eaves -- a true testament that you don't need brains to be alive. He levels Jordan Staal, little brother of his superstar  teammate Eric, with a seriously nasty elbow right to the chops. Those Staal brothers are tight and they have long memories. After the series is all done, blood will be a whole lot thicker than a seriously ugly swirling toilet bowl jersey. Look out, Patty.

• Speaking of hockey parents, it sure looks like the Staals of Thunder Bay will be winging to Pittsburgh to cheer on young Jordan in the Cup finals. They've exiled themselves on their Northern Ontario sod farm in an attempt to upset neither son by picking a side. Mind you, all of those Penguins logos painted on the tractors kind of gives it away...

• Hmmmm.... Pittsburgh is to Detroit as Edmonton was to the New York Islanders. Discuss.

• If juicy Jussi Jokinen was a right-hand shot, he'd pull his faceoff wins in a completely different direction. Not his own bloody net.

• The difference between last year's Penguins and this year's is clear. Just about every goal they score comes from in-tight, right in the kitchen. None of this pansy along the wall crap. No more Mr. Nice Guys; it's all muscle down the middle. After all, if you've made it past third base, your only option is go into home hard. Don'tcha think?

• If you get a chance, find a bar somewhere that will tune at least one screen into the Memorial Cup finals tomorrow. It's up against the Wings and Hawks, but it promises to be one helluva battle between the prospect-laden Windsor Spitfires and the strong and steady Kelowna Rockets. Some of these guys have way better beards than a lot of baby-faced NHLers right now. But best of all is Leaf's prospect Dale Mitchell's obscene porn-stache. You have to see it to believe. Seriously.