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GAMEDAY! Pens host Islanders in first of back-to-back games |
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Isles (31-33-11, 16-17-5 road) at Pens (47-22-6, 27-8-2 home), CONSOL, 7:00 pm EDT
Follow me on Twitter @JohnToperzer
Five Questions For Tuesday
1. Should the Pens stick with the Cooke-Crosby-Kennedy line? If not, what would you change?
2. Who is the most irreplaceable player on the Penguins and why?
3. Are you confident having Brent Johnson and Brad Thiessen as the backup goalies? Who
would you dress in the playoffs if both are healthy?
4. We talked about this Monday, but who are your three Vezina Finalists and winner? Can Marc-Andre Fleury win it if the Pens finish ahead of the Rangers for first place in the East?
5. Who will the Pens play in the first round of the playoffs? Which team presents the toughest matchup?
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Twitter Updates
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
Strait with Martin, Despres with Engelland and both youngsters will play significant roles, Bylsma said.
Dejan Kovacevic @Dejan_Kovacevic
Letang will NOT play tonight because of that lower-body injury.
Pens Inside Scoop @PensInsideScoop
#Pens coach Bylsma: Niskanen and Vitale skated this morning. Both still day-to-day -SK
Josh Yohe @JoshYohe_Trib
Bylsma: Lovejoy had surgery on knee. OUt 3-4 weeks. Letang lower-body injury, day to day
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
Sullivan says he should be ready to return for #Penguins tonight, had something that just needed a couple days of rest.
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The Pens scratched Eric Tangradi, Steve Sullivan, Joe Vitale, Matt Niskanen and Brent Johnson on Sunday.
Ben Lovejoy, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang all got hurt to some degree against the New Jersey Devils. Lovejoy left early in the first period and didn’t return. Malkin took a puck off his right hand/thumb after a Zbynek Michalek slapper. He didn’t miss more than a shift, if that. Linemate Chris Kunitz took the offensive draw in the right circle and passed back to Michalek. Malkin was fighting for space as a net-front presence. Letang led head-first on an attempted check of Dainius Zubrus, leading to a head-to-head collision for both players. Much like Malkin, Letang didn’t miss too much time.
Pittsburgh recalled defensemen Brian Strait and Simon Despres on Monday. It seems as though Lovejoy will miss but it’s not yet known whether Niskanen or Letang might miss Tuesday’s tilt.
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Sidney Crosby might not be scoring goals at the pace we’re accustomed to – he’s got four goals and 21 assists in 15 games – but he could match his assist total from last year. Crosby collected 34 helpers in 41 games in 2010-11, meaning that he’ll need 13 assists in the season’s last seven games to tie that total – in only 22 games.
Jordan Staal needs six points in seven games to reach the 50-point plateau. Staal has 23 goals and 44 points in 53 games. The big centerman has totaled 49 points twice in his career but hasn’t hit 50.
The Penguins will have six 20-goal scorers if Matt Cooke can pot one more score. Why not? Cooke’s got seven goals in his last seven games.
“Good Cooke, Bad Cooke” update – Cooke has 37 points and 34 penalty minutes and hasn’t missed a game.
The Pens can tie their longest home winning streak of 11 games with a win tonight.
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Pens-Isles: By the Numbers
Goals For/Against
Pens: 3.25-2.56 (per game)
Isles: 2.21-2.93
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio
Pens: 1.19
Isles: 0.74
Power Play
Pens: 19.6 percent, 26-for-133 (home)
Isles: 22.6 percent, 24-for-106 (road)
The Isles have the second-ranked road power-play in the league.
Penalty Kill
Pens: 90.6 percent, 96-of-106 (home)
Isles: 80.8 percent, 90-of-110 (road)
Hits-Blocked Shots-Missed Shots-Giveaways-Takeaways
Pens: 884H-509B-511M-194G-141T (37 home games)
Isles: 803H-637B-408M-204G-250T (38 road games)
Record When Leading After 20 Minutes, 40 Minutes/Trailing After 20, 40
Pens: 22-5-4, 28-0-3/9-11-1, 8-17-2
Isles: 14-1-8, 16-1-8/6-22-2, 2-28-2
Record When Scoring First/Trailing First
Pens: 31-7-4/16-15-2
Isles: 20-8-8/11-25-3
Shootouts
Pens: 9-3 overall/5-0 home
Isles: 7-4 overall/6-2 road
New York is surprisingly better on the road than at home in shootouts.
Penalty Minutes
Pens: 10.3 PIMS/game
Isles: 8.9 PIMS/game
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Quote of the Day
“You don’t see that more than once a year or career. He just did it twice in the span of 15 minutes, against the same guy.”
ROOT Sports, Bob Errey, after Sidney Crosby dances around New Jersey defenseman, Marek Zidlicky, two different times during Sunday’s game. Crosby finally beats goalie Martin Brodeur after toasting Zidlicky for the second time.
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Treasure life & Let's Go Pens!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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