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Game Night: Pens look to snap two-game slide Wednesday

February 13, 2013, 12:17 PM ET [476 Comments]
John Toperzer
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



Poll Results:

Question -- The most under-appreciated Pittsburgh Penguin on the team is ...?

Craig Adams won the vote with 18 percent. The penalty killer extraordinaire and hit machine might not get the credit he deserves in the media, but he got it from the voting here. Pascal Dupuis wasn’t too far behind at 14 percent. No other Penguin received more than seven percent of the vote. Perhaps fittingly, the defensive pairing of Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik each received seven percent.

Never did I think that Martin would get seven percent of anything other than backlash after the 2011-12 season.


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Sens (7-4-2, 2-3 Road) at Pens (8-5, 2-3 Home), CONSOL, 7:00 pm ET, ROOT Sports


Five Pen – Five Sens

PENS


Evgeni Malkin: He’s still having a better year in the KHL than NHL. Malkin ranks third in KHL scoring with 65 points in 37 games. Ex-teammate Sergei Mozyakin leads the league with 74 points in 46 contests. Some of Geno’s prominent numbers in Russia include – 22:26 TOI, 54.7 faceoff win rate, 10.2 shooting percentage.

With the Pens, Malkin has three goals and 16 points in 13 games, 19:29 TOI, 47.3 faceoff win rate, 7.5 shooting percentage. His numbers are down across the board, not just in KHL-AHL comparisons but in 2011-12 to 2013 comps.

Malkin got off to a late start, not speaking with the media after the first day of practice. That was no big deal, but it got him off on the wrong foot.

Malkin (7.5) and Crosby (9.8) are the only two top-20 scorers with shooting percentages under 10 percent.

Crosby’s shots per game have spiked from 3.41 to 3.92 while Malkin’s have dropped from 4.52 to 3.08.

Malkin has already accumulated 24 penalty minutes, though 10 are from a game misconduct at the end of a loss.

His inability to manage his emotion is troubling. On Saturday, Malkin drew a slashing call from David Clarkson. The penalty would have put Pittsburgh on a power play in the third period of a 1-1 games. Malkin couldn’t handle his frustration, however, and retaliated with a roughing call on Andy Greene. Granted, he’s not the only one taking minor penalties, but opponents are still having too much success getting under Malkin’s skin. He needs to find the composure he exhibited during the 2011-12 regular season.


James Neal: Leads the Pens with eight goals and five power-play goals. A streaky player his first few years in Dallas and in his first two-month campaign with Pittsburgh, the winger has shown surprising consistency since the beginning of 2011-12.

Lots of folks were calling for a drop-off in November of 2011 after his strong 2011-12 start, but he continued en route to a 40-goal season.

He does possess a team-worst minus-6 rating. Neal has hinted at how much his line misses Chris Kunitz.


Chris Kunitz: He ranks third on Pittsburgh with 15 points in 13 games. He has six goals and nine assists. If his goal scoring falls off, look for people to say he only has two goals aside from his four-goal performance. Too bad the Pens couldn’t clone him and put his DNA on both Crosby’s and Malkin’s lines.


Joe Vitale: As Clint Eastwood once said, a man’s got to know his limitations. The Penguins don’t always ask for much from Vitale – he served as a healthy scratch for a game last week – but he delivers when called upon. How many fourth liners win faceoffs at Vitale’s rate? He holds a 63.4 win rate at home and 62.7 rate away from CONSOL. Add in the fact that he’s fits Bylsma’s fast-paced, forechecking, keep-the-puck-in-the-offensive-zone-as-the-best-defense mentality, and he should continue to see the ice.


Tyler Kennedy: This is Kennedy’s sixth season with the Pens and he’s still only 25 years of age. His ice time has dropped in recent games, though he skated 13 minutes Sunday. His performance has dropped even further. Kennedy hasn’t scored since Opening Night – no wonder he didn’t want to give up the goal in the second game which was reviewed and taken away from him. He hasn’t scored since. In all likelihood, this is his last season in Pittsburgh. Kennedy will be a free agent in the summer. If anyone has much to play for over the next few months, it’s him.


SENS


Jason Spezza: Spezza injured his back against Pittsburgh in January and is out indefinitely. A huge thorn in the Pens’ side, the centerman has 42 career points in 33 contests versus the Penguins. Ottawa has been in serious offensive withdrawal since he got hurt.


Kyle Turris: He potted four goals in four games to start the season, but has none in the Sens’ nine games. The fact that he has only nine shots in eight games in the post Spezza era has to change.


Erik Karlsson: His hockey tombstone epitaph might read “the Good Lord giveth and the Good Lord taketh away” at this stage of his NHL career. The defenseman’s offensive prowess is well known – he already has six goals and 10 points in 13 games – but the Penguins have made a living bringing the puck right at him to expose his defensive shortcomings. Karlsson has two goals and 10 points in 11 games against Pittsburgh, but is also saddled with a minus-8 rating.


Chris Neil: Neil had a quiet first game against Pittsburgh, going both pointless and penalty-less. For his career, however, the forward has 105 PIMs (and 12 points) in 36 games against the Pens. We’ll see if he drops the gloves after the opening faceoff as has been the case in many NHL games this season.


Milan Michalek: He had five points in five games, but just three in nine since losing his main accomplice, Jason Spezza. Michalek netted 35 goals a season ago and is another Ottawa player that needs to step up his offensive pace with Spezza out. So far the brother of “Z” hasn’t gotten it done. Michalek has five goals and 12 points in 15 games versus Pittsburgh.


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Goalies


Marc-Andre Fleury: Fleury was named the game’s No. 2 star when he made 31 saves in a 2-1 shootout victory in Ottawa on Jan. 27. Surprisingly, he gave up two shootout goals in three attempts but the Pens went 3-for-3 for the win.

Fleury went 1-1 against the Sens at CONSOL in 2011-12.

He made 24 saves in a 6-3 victory Nov. 25, 2011. The Pens got off to a quick 4-1 lead 10 minutes into Period 1 and cruised to the easy win.

Fleury replaced Brent Johnson on Jan. 10, 2012 after the Sens scored three goals on eight shots against Johnson. For his part, Fleury allowed two goals on 15 shots over the final 38-plus minutes. The Sens won that contest, 5-1.


Craig Anderson: Anderson also started both games in Pittsburgh last year. He allowed four goals in eight shots and was yanked the first time the two teams met. In the rematch, however, he stopped 29 of 30 shots in the 5-1 victory.


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Team Trends

Pens: Pittsburgh is looking to get back to the .500 mark. Its loss against New Jersey on Sunday left the team with a 2-3 record at CONSOL.

Sens: Spezza’s absence has short-circuited Ottawa’s offense. In January, the Sens went 5-1-1 and scored 24 goals in seven games. February has proven to be much more difficult. Ottawa has just nine goals in six games, stringing together an unimpressive 2-3-1 mark.


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Tweets ‘O the Day


Pittsburgh Penguins ‏@penguins

Matt Niskanen: I'm feeling better every day. Today really good. It's progressing. We'll see today and moving forward. Coaches' decision


Pittsburgh Penguins ‏@penguins

Kris Letang: Reason I didn't play for 3 games was because I wanted to get to 100%. I feel pretty good. I'm ready to go.


Shelly Anderson ‏@pgshelly

Bylsma called Niskanen, Letang game-time decisions, but we think it looks promising. Fleury starting.


Shelly Anderson ‏@pgshelly

Paul Martin still on top PP unit, Letang and Niskanen working points on second unit at #Penguins AM skate.


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Treasure Life!
JT

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