Penguins/NHL
Post-Morning Skate Updates
Article Highlights: Fleury to start in goal; Bylsma talks about why he’s going with Conner tonight; Engelland looking to play physical with Lightning forwards; Malkin at his best when he has a physical presence on his wing?:
Fleury to start in goal: Goaltender Marc Andre Fleury will get the start in goal tonight. Fleury is 1-6-0 on the season with a 3.54 GAA and .853 save percentage.
“Just really excited. Looking forward to get back in there play and try to get a win, Fleury said.
Conner to make season debut: Forward Mike Comrie will be bypassed for the second straight game and will be a healthy scratch tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Head coach Dan Bylsma talked about why he’s going with Chris Conner tonight.
“Speed that he brings, ” Bylsma said. “Again, I commented to the media two days ago about about how much good I’ve heard about this guy, and how he’s playing and how well he’s playing down there. He’s a guy whose come up and had it, shown that before to our team….Speed and energy tonight against a team that doesn’t have a lot of physicality to it, we’re going to look for him to add that to our lineup tonight.”
Engelland looking to rebound from rough game against PHX: I spoke with Deryk Engelland who will return to the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch Wednesday night.
On looking forward to getting back into the lineup tonight: “Yeah, Definitely….I hope to play everyday if you can and even If you don’t, have to stay focused and be ready to go when you get the call.
Struggles against Phoenix: “Yeah, first couple shifts weren’t very good. Couple minuses but rest of the game I played fairly solid and I just have to move on from it.”
On playing physical with Tampa’s skilled forwards: “For me, I just have to play physical. Make them not want to be in the offensive zone and play solid defensively, make key first pass and that’s what I’m looking to do tonight.”
Bylsma likes physical presence with Malkin: Head coach Dan Bylsma will keep Matt Cooke and Arron Asham on the wings with Evgeni Malkin tonight.
Bylsma talked about how Malkin is at his best when he’s making plays down low and somewhat attributed that to having someone on his line who can win battles in the corner.
Despite playing with a sore left knee, Malkin had two assists against Boston and looked like his oldself. Malkin will continue to see time at center and on the wing tonight, according to Bylsma.
