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Gene Collier: Half of the marbles on the line

TAMPA, Fla. — And on and on it goes, riotously, so allow me to butcher a legendary phrase from a certain fabled play-by-play artist: “Meet me in the schoolyard Thursday baby for half the marbles.”

There’s not much utility in cranking out Mike Lange covers this deep in a still-boiling Penguins postseason, and not all Game 6’s are created equal, but there was a certain echo coming out of Amalie Arena Tuesday night as the Penguins avoided getting themselves electrocuted into the offseason.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, negotiating the international screeching that they score immediately and repeatedly lest their playoff legacies wind up at the bottom of Tampa Bay, both assisted on the first Penguins goal and Crosby got the third himself with an inimitable one-on-one burst late in the second period as the Penguins sent the Eastern Conference final back to the ’Burgh with a nerve-mangling 5-2 victory.