BODOG NHL BETTING

You cannot win the Stanley Cup without a defense-first philosophy. Can't be done.

Don't even bother trying.

Either get yourself a coach who knows how to trap or a goalie who can stand on his head.

These are the laws of the National Hockey League.

That is, unless you have a superstar. Laws don't apply to superstars.

But it can't be just any superstar, a "this guy's made a few all-star teams" type. He has to be the superstar. The face of the game.

At least, that's what history tells us. In the last quarter-century, only two teams - the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s and the Pittsburgh Penguins of the 1990s - have dominated the league without an impenetrable line of defense.

Edmonton had Wayne Gretzky. Pittsburgh, Mario Lemieux. Perhaps you've heard of them?

Today, another team from the Steel City is making noise, and its characteristics are awfully similar to those running-and-gunning champions of yesteryear.

Heading into Wednesday's game against Chicago, the Penguins, led by face-of-the-game Sidney Crosby, have won 11 of their past 13, putting themselves in position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2001. With 29 victories, they already have seven more than they posted in 2005-06.

Pittsburgh sits tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference standings, second in the Atlantic Division. A 50/1 longshot to win the Stanley Cup in October, the Pens have morphed into a 15/2 medium-shot with less than two months left in the regular season.

The Pens, to the delight of fans around the league, are making it happen with offense. Their 190 goals trail only Buffalo's 212 and Nashville's 196.

Individually, Crosby leads the NHL in scoring with 25 goals and 62 assists, good for 87 points. The next closest in the race are Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, both with 73 points. Crosby's teammate, Evgeni Malkin, is also among leaders with 63 points, 27 of them goals.

Defensively, however, the Pens still have some learning to do. Pittsburgh ranks 18th in goals against, surrendering 3.02 per game. New Jersey is best at 2.27.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (2.81 GAA, .908 SV%) has played well enough, but he's not yet in the class of a Martin Brodeur or Miikka Kiprusoff.

Also of note, Pittsburgh's top defensemen, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, are both offensive-minded players. Great to have on the power-play, but they come with the occasional defensive lapse.

Saturday's game in Toronto was a typical Pittsburgh affair. The Pens jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Leafs stormed back with four unanswered, Pittsburgh tied it, Toronto forged ahead, Pittsburgh drew even and then won it 6-5 in overtime.

Eleven goals. It was the fifth double-digit total of the season for coach Michel Therrien's side. Not surprisingly, the Pens are 29-25-1 over/under, one of only seven plus-.500 teams in that category.

Crosby and Malkin aren't the only young guns lighting the lamp for Pittsburgh. Jordan Staal, the 18-year-old brother of Carolina's Eric Staal, scored three times against the Leafs. That makes 23 on the season for him.

In fact, Crosby, Malkin, and Staal are the first trio of teammates to score more than 20 goals before their 21st birthday since - well, that's interesting - Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey did it with the 1981-82 Edmonton Oilers.

Of course, the Oilers didn't win their first Stanley Cup until 1983-84, the year they finally dethroned the New York Islanders, the four-time champs. In 1981-82, Edmonton fell in the first round to Los Angeles. The following season they were swept in the finals by the Isles.

Former Islander Greg Gilbert recounts a famous hockey story from that first Edmonton-New York showdown in the spring of 1983: "Wayne Gretzky and the rest of those guys walked by our dressing room and saw all our guys in ice bags and on the floor, beaten up and bruised. To win a championship at any level, your will power has to exceed the opponent. You have to be willing to pay the price more than the person you are playing."

The Oilers would learn their lesson and go on to win five of the next seven titles.

Whether the young Penguins can avoid learning that lesson the way Edmonton did should be interesting and fun to watch at the same time.

TOP PHOTO: Sidney Crosby (right) and Evgeni Malkin are leading the Pittsburgh Penguins on a wild run to the playoffs. (AP Photo)

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