Friday, April 03, 2009

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is the Penguins' other scoring race.

Unlike the battle between league leader Evgeni Malkin and teammate Sidney Crosby, this one won't have a major impact on postseason awards or trophy voting.

It's the duel between Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, which has been overlooked by nearly everyone around the league because even the players involved aren't paying much attention to it.

But regardless of how few people have noticed, Gill has strung together four points in the past five games -- including two assists in a 6-1 victory Wednesday against New Jersey -- to climb within four of his partner on defense, Scuderi.

And if those raw numbers weren't riveting enough, there was a little intrigue injected into the competition when Scuderi was awarded an assist against the Devils, only to have it be taken away and awarded to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury a bit later in the evening.

Alas, even that twist and the recent erosion of Scuderi's lead haven't been enough to get either Scuderi or Gill caught up in their head-to-head confrontation. In fairness, it is understandable for a couple of guys who rank 17th and 18th in points on their team -- when contributing to the offense is, at most, a secondary facet of their job description.

"I think we're pretty happy being the shutdown pair and trying to do a job that way," Gill said yesterday.

That doesn't mean they don't enjoy showing up on the score sheet for something besides a hit or blocked shot every now and then.

Scuderi has an assist in two of the past three games, running his points total to a career-best 14, and Gill matched his personal single-game high of two points in the Devils game.

"It's nice when we're winning games like we did [Wednesday] and we get some goals off the rush and you sneak a couple of assists in," Gill said.

Then again, he said he didn't know when his most recent two-point game had been (Jan. 16 against Anaheim), and he made it clear that he doesn't measure his performance by offensive numbers.

"Sometimes [the points] come and sometimes they don't," he said. "It's one of those things I don't gauge my game on."

Gill allowed that, while he "was a go-to guy in high school," he began to embrace the role of defensive defenseman when he enrolled at Providence.

Gill never strayed outside of his niche during four seasons with the Friars or the dozen winters in the NHL that followed.

His style is why the Penguins acquired him from Toronto in late February 2008 and why management has to be at least a little concerned about the possibility that he'll move on after reaching unrestricted free agency this summer.

Gill turns 34 Monday but has no immediate plans to walk away from the game.

"I'm not going to play forever, but I enjoy the game and it's a lot of fun winning," he said. "That's what it's all about, getting to play and win. I'll do it as long as they let me."

Winning -- to be precise, winning a Stanley Cup -- is his primary motivation these days. Enjoyable as the camaraderie and $2.1 million salary and perks of his profession are, he is driven by the desire to earn a championship.

"When you're younger, you think it's going to happen eventually," Gill said. "It doesn't work that way. You work hard when you're younger, you're working for your job, you're working to make money.

"When you get older, you start to say, 'I need to win.' "

The Penguins came within two victories of winning the Cup last spring, and Gill sees them as viable contenders this time, too.

"We have some different parts, but I think everyone has defined a role," he said. "That's what's exciting. We have guys who know where they fit in on a team."

Especially a couple of defensive defensemen.