Pens (8-2-2, 4-1-1 road) at Maple Leafs (6-2-1, 4-0-1 home), Air Canada Centre, 7:08 pm EDT
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Battle of the Backups: Brent Johnson goes against Jonas Gustavsson
Penguins Lines during Saturday’s Game-Day Skate
Sullivan-Malkin-Neal
Kunitz-Park-Dupuis
Cooke-Letesu-Asham
MacIntyre/Jeffrey-Vitale-Adams
The Pittsburgh Penguins lead the NHL in games played (12), wins (10) and man-games lost (48).
As the team closes out the league’s busiest October schedule in Toronto on Saturday, news breaks that Jordan Staal didn’t even make the trip due to an injury suffered against the Islanders on Thursday night.
The injury, which apparently occurred 1:48 into the second period, appeared innocuous at first glance. Staal was exiting the offensive zone after taking a wrister that hit the post. He lined up John Tavares with a body check just outside the blue line. Staal crunched the Islander, landed to his right on the ice and then skated to the bench.
Pens announcer, Bob Errey, said he saw Staal testing something out on the ice. The Penguins forward then went to the locker room and returned shortly thereafter. The fact that he didn’t even make the trip to Toronto suggests he could miss additional time.
Fortunately for Staal and the rest of the squad, Pittsburgh’s break-neck schedule slows to a crawl. The team has only two games in the next 12 days after Saturday.
The news has gotten better, even during the course of writing this post. Coach Dan Bylsma announced that Staal is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Even though we all know the vagaries of “day-to-day” injuries, it’s encouraging that Staal did not suffer a 4-6 week injury of some sort.
Another late news tidbit has Brent Johnson getting the nod in goal. Johnnie hasn’t played since beating the Wild in Minnesota on Oct. 18. What a big win that was for the Pens, coming on the second night of back-to-back contests. Pittsburgh lost to Winnipeg in an ugly game the night before and Johnson helped right the Pens’ ship. It’s nice having him as a backup, isn’t it?
I had a Jordan Staal trivia question all ready to go before today’s news broke, and it’s just too good to let it go. Here it is.
What do Michel Ouellet, Evgeni Malkin and Alain Nasreddine all have in common? Give up? They all assisted on at least one of Staal’s three goals in a hat trick performance in Toronto on Feb. 10, 2007. My how time flies.
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Pens-Maple Leafs Team Stats, as seen on NHL.com
Goals per game
Pens 2.82
Leafs 3.22
Goals-Against per game
Pens 1.92
Leafs 3.22
5-on-5 Goals For/Against
Pens 0.95
Leafs 1.31
Power-Play Goal Percentage
Pens 19.6
Leafs 14.0
Penalty Kill Percentage
Pens 97.3
Leafs 76.9
Shots (For/Against)
Pens 31.3/28
Leafs 27.4/31.1
Faceoffs
Pens 53.3
Leafs 51.5
As you can see from the stats, Toronto is a much better team in the early going as a 5-on-5 team. The Pens, meanwhile, dominate special teams categories, both on the power play and penalty kill.
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Injury Roll Call
PENGUINS
Jordan Staal – Out, lower body injury, day-to-day, able to play third period after getting hurt Thursday.
Sidney Crosby – Out, didn’t make trip to Toronto (I didn’t mention him in last injury report because of my fear of Jeremy Roenick).
Tyler Kennedy – Out, concussion has him sidelined an indefinite period of time.
Zbynek Michalek – Out, broken finger blocking shot will keep him out until American Thanksgiving.
Brian Strait – Out, hyper-extended elbow keeps him out of lineup (for Pens or Baby Pens) for another few weeks.
MAPLE LEAFS
Colby Armstrong – Out, on IR with a sprained ankle for the next couple weeks.
James Reimer – Questionable, dealing with a knee injury and is apparently out Saturday.
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STARTING GOALIES
PENGUINS
Brent Johnson
2011-12 1-0-2, 1.91 GAA, .925 save percentage
Career vs. Toronto 4-3, 3.39 GAA, .853 save percentage
MAPLE LEAFS
Jonas Gustavsson
2011-12 2-2, 4.08 GAA, .876 save percentage
Career vs. Pittsburgh 1-2, 4.01 GAA, .867 save percentage.
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Have a great weekend & Let's Go Pens!
JT