The Penguins and Devils meet tonight in the final game before the All-Star break with both teams separated by just two points. Pittsburgh has two games in hand on New Jersey.
Every game is important at this point of the season and for the Penguins a win tonight will have them going into the break on a three game winning streak for the first time since the start of November and one point out of third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Penguins have done an excellent job of picking up points at home, 5-0-2 in their last seven games, and the stars have been a big reason why. Sidney Crosby has a six game home goal scoring streak and Crosby’s seven goals in the month of January are tied for 2nd in the NHL. Kris Letang with 28 points in his last 26 games, leads all NHL defensemen with 13 points in the month of January.
Evgeni Malkin is coming off his first hat trick in almost four years.
The Devils have been a team all season that you wait for them to start to fade but it hasn’t happened yet. They come into tonight’s game on a four game winning streak with wins over Arizona, Calgary, Winnipeg and Ottawa.
The Devils embarrassed the Penguins in November with a dominant 4-0 win that started the process of the Penguins examining Mike Johnston’s future with the club and despite New Jersey right in the mix for playoff contention, I don’t get the sense anyone in that Penguin locker room looks at New Jersey just yet as a serious threat to keep the Penguins out of a playoff spot.
This game tonight is more important for New Jersey from that standpoint.
If they can come in to Pittsburgh with an impressive win, it could be one of those statement games for New Jersey that they’re not going anywhere.
For Pittsburgh a solid win keeps the narrative going that they’re starting to turn the corner while a loss will keep that pause and wonders of whether they’re on a treadmill to nowhere.
SHERO FINDS VALUE
Ray Shero’s first year as GM has seen Shero hit big on value signings and trades.
Lee Stempniak entered training camp on a tryout and has gone out to be a more productive player than Phil Kessel. Stempniak is second on the team with 14 goals and 36 points. He carries a cap hit of $850,000.
Kyle Palmeri a promising player about to hit his prime was acquired for draft picks has 20 goals with a cap hit of $1.4 million.
Bobby Farnham claimed on waivers has 7 even strength goals, more even strength goals than Nick Bonino and Eric Fehr have combined.
STATS TO KNOW
*Pittsburgh is 10-2 in their last 12 home games vs the Devils
*Corey Schneider has shutouts in his past two starts vs the Penguins but is 0-4-0 with a 3.30 GAA and .867 save percentage in four career starts at Consol Energy Center.
LINEUP BUZZ
*Chris Kunitz will be held out of the lineup for the second straight game. Matt Cullen will take Kunitz’ spot again with Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist
*Beau Bennett has been placed on injured reserve.[hide]
*The Penguins recalled Scott Wilson today. Wilson is expected to be in the lineup over Sergei Plotnikov.
*Ian Cole and Derrick Pouliot each alternated with Ben Lovejoy on the third pair.
*Former Penguin Tyler Kennedy is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight. Kennedy has 0 goals and 4 assists in 23 games with the Devils
PENGUINS LINES
Matt Cullen – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl – Eric Fehr – Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary – Kevin Porter – Scott Wilson
Extra: Sergei Plotnikov [/hide]
Perron would have retired earlier, but the Savard injury was holding things up.
Perron suckss..yet another goal from the frenchy
He does suck something awful.
Wait, you were talking piles of shit about him while he was here. You get to shut the fuck up on the matter
For anyone bitch ing about kessel. His stats are 15 goals 16 assists and 6 Pim where as James neal has 17 goals 12 assist and a whopping 59 pim. Just something to think about. We got a similar player with a slightly higher cap hit thanks to toronto. Yes kessel is streaky but at least has the ability to take over games and doesn’t take stupid penalties.
Its pretty clear that Geno (Russia) and Kessel (USA) are the Penguins best players.
FuckYeahSid!
Bring Clendening back
According to gaydogg Clendening not good enough to come back to pens Clendening has no potential.. he must be satisfied what he is seeing from Gayjoy
Craig Adams would have retired earlier, but the Savard injury was holding things up.
The more reliable rumor.
Do you think Savard and Mcdavid can be had in a 3 way deal with CBJ and Vancouver? I just wish we didn’t give up Rust and a third last year, as I feel that would seal the deal.
Dave Molinari @MolinariPG 2m2 minutes ago
Former Penguins forward Craig Adams has formally retired, per an announcement from the NHL Players’ Association.
now it’s just a matter of time until the hof comes calling
he was retired when he was in pens roster already he just didint know it
You know who should retire? Therrien.
samthewetdreamaboutdbman
I think they should try Scott Wilson with Sid in place of Kunitz. They both play the same kind of game. Kunitz, at age 37 still has better hockey skills than Wilson, but I think he would compliment Crosby in a similar way as Kunitz.
I think they should try Phil Kessel with crosby in place of kunitz . They both have similar Paychecks .Kunitz at age 37 still has better hockey IQ than kessel
you think chubby or BB can be on this http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=337&id=938015&lang=en
Clendening on waivers.
pens should take him he has some potential
If I’m not mistaken this will be his 5th team in 5 years and he still can’t crack a NHL lineup, of course Sam would think he has potential.
So bb to nj for a low pick?
Trade him for Farnham.
That bottom six is horrendous. woof. Worse than last year.
Should have signed Stemp
BB needs to change his career.
Maybe he can be sids Assistant carry his bag ,hockey sticks .I am sure even at that he most probably will get injured from it
you read that Stan. letang 28 points in last 26 games leads all nhl D in month of Jan with 13 points. while your fraud BB and Chubby leads nothing but stealing paychecks
He also leads defensemen in letting his team down by drooling on himself. He can’t be relied upon. I don’t care what he does when he plays, because he can’t be counted on to play when they need him too. He’s a dainty pussy french canadian. nobody needs that. Especially at that price tag. Oh – and you’re fat.
chubby at 10m he plays every game how is he doing with that price tag compare toStemp when i said pens shouldve kept him in the summer .
They didn’t have him last year – how could they have “kept him” in the summer? And quit talking about Kessel – they’re two different arguments – we’re talking about the french queen that barely plays. One argument at a time, porkchop.
I wish I know who Sam was talking about because there isn’t a single player on the Pens roster that makes 10M.
is there anyway pens can gift BB to Shero today
jeff2266
Jeffed