Penguins-Tuesday

The Pittsburgh Penguins in their final tune up before Game 1 Wednesday night had a bit of a surprising development.

[hide] The coaches look to be going back to the Olli Maatta – Trevor Daley pairing.

The pairing has been nothing short of a train wreck this season and was a major contention of scrutiny before Daley and Maatta both got injured in the same week back in February. Maatta has just one game under his belt since returning.

Tuesday’s practice is giving a glimpse of what to expect with the lineup vs the Blue Jackets in Game 1.

LINES
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Conor Sheary
Bryan Rust – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
Scott Wilson – Nick Bonino – Patric Hornqvist
Tom Kuhnhackl – Matt Cullen – Carter Rowney

D-PAIRS
Brian Dumoulin – Ron Hainsey
Ian Cole – Justin Schultz
Olli Maatta – Trevor Daley

EXTRA’s

Mark Streit who has falling a bit out of a favor, was on the extra pairing with Cameron Gaunce. Chad Ruhwedel dealing with a wrist injury, is on the shelf for the start of the series. A source says if Ruhwedel was ready to go, the Penguins third pairing would more likely be Daley – Ruhwedel than Maatta – Daley.

Nonetheless, the Penguins going right back to the Maatta – Daley pairing will have the pairing under the microscope from the start.

Forwards

Evgeni Malkin as expected continues to trend in the direction of playing in Game 1. Malkin centered Bryan Rust and Phil Kessel today as the Penguins will play Rust on his off-wing.

The coaches believe Rust is adequate enough to play his off-side because of how well he beats defenders wide with his speed and protects the puck with his backhand in driving to the net.

There are no surprises today with the top-12. The thinking has been that Carter Rowney will play over Josh Archibald to start the series and that looks to be the case.

A bit of a sidebar, though, Archibald did take some line rushes in place of Scott Wilson on the third line.

Goaltenders

In a good sign, Matt Murray came on the ice early to take shots and is going through a full practice.

No. 1 Power Play

Phil Kessel – Patric Hornqvist – Sidney Crosby – Evgeni Malkin
Justin Schultz

Werenski back for Blue Jackets, Murray long-shot

The Columbus Blue Jackets will not have defenseman Ryan Murray to start the series, a significant blow for them in matching up with the Penguins top-2 lines.

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