The Morning Skate

Digging deep Pittsburgh is a perfectly fine 7-0-0 against Eastern Conference teams in this young season. But the Penguins are winless (0-1-0) against the West, an oversight Crosby and Co. hope to correct tonight when St. Louis visits Mellon Arena. The Blues are coming off an impressive 5-0 shutout at Anaheim, choreographed by former Penguins goalie Ty Conklin. Pittsburgh beat Tampa Bay 4-1 in its last outing, a game in which former Blues defenseman Jay McKee won the eternal respect of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury by blocking seven shots. Like all opponents, the young Blues will be hungry to beat the defending champs, who will dig deep to sustain the resolve that has helped them get off to the second-fastest start in franchise history. Goal oriented It's hard enough to stop Ilya Kovalchuk when he fires that big slapper at even strength. But denying him on the power play is next to impossible, as Buffalo discovered Saturday when he scored one of his two goals with the man advantage a...