The Pittsburgh Penguins (8-4-2) face off against the Detroit Red Wings (9-2-2) on Tuesday night for the first time since the Red Wings defeated the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals. The Penguins are 6-3-1 in their past ten games and have quietly been climbing the standings in the Atlantic Division. Pittsburgh is 5 points behind the division leading Rangers who have played three more games than the Penguins. The biggest story line of the game will be Marian Hossa who spurned the Penguins 7yr – 50 million offer to sign with the Red Wings.

Marian Hossa has been the X-Factor for the Detroit Red Wings. Hossa currently leads the Wings with 17 points and has been a dominant force night in and night out. Marian Hossa (17 points) – Pavel Datsyuk (13 points) – Henrik Zetterberg (12 points) have combined for 42 points this season.
Pittsburgh’s trio of Evgeni Malkin (22 points) – Sidney Crosby (16 points) – Miroslav Satan (12 points) have combined for 50 points
The Penguins believe Jordan Staal is about to turn the corner. Staal did see some time with Evgeni Malkin Saturday night but that was due to Malkin’s hand injury which hindered him to take faceoffs. It will be interesting to see what Therrien goes with in tomorrow’s morning skate.
I apologize for not updating the site the past couple days, we were undergoing some maintaince to our system.