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Game Night: Can the Pens make it 13th straight?

March 26, 2013, 1:47 PM ET [916 Comments]
John Toperzer
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Montreal (20-6-5, 11-2-2 Road) at Pens (25-8, 12-4 Home), Consol, 7:00 pm ET



Brenden Morrow, Doug Murray? Cookies or ice cream? Morrow might not be the player he was when he led the Stars to the conference finals in 2008 and Murray might be a step slow, but the two could be just what Pittsburgh needs, and GM Ray Shero no doubt believes that the sum, in this case, is greater than its parts.

With that in mind, the Pens enter Tuesday in a matchup between the top two statistical organizations in the East. Pittsburgh (25-8) leads the Atlantic Division with 50 points, 13 more than second-place New Jersey Devils. Montreal (20-6-5) sits atop the Northeast with 45 points in a virtual tie with Boston (21-7-4), though the Bruins have one more regulation loss.

So what can we expect from Consol Energy Center tonight? Well, if the first meeting between the two teams is any indication, there will be lots of goals scored. The Penguins beat the Habs in Montreal, 7-6, on March 2 in an overtime thriller. Brandon Sutter netted the OT winner as Pittsburgh embarked upon its 12-game winning streak that night.

Since then, however, much has changed and most of it for the good. The Pens have allowed only eight goals in their last nine games. The line of Sidney Crosby-Pascal Dupuis-Chris Kunitz has stepped up in the absence of Evgeni Malkin, who has missed Pittsburgh’s last eight games.

The defense has done its job without the services of Kris Letang. Letang re-injured a groin against Boston and missed the team’s last three contests.

Goalie Tomas Vokoun, who surrendered six goals to the Canadiens in the last meeting, has only given up four goals in his last four starts. The veteran netminder holds a perfect 5-0 record in March.

Montreal isn’t conceding the Northeast Division to Boston, as many prognosticators expected. Despite playing seven of 11 contests on the road in March, the Habs have gone 7-2-2 since February. Including Tuesday, the team plays three gut-check games in the next week: Tuesday at Pittsburgh, Wednesday at Boston and Saturday against the Rangers.

Canadiens’ coach, Michel Therrien, has got his troops going – they are definitely not soff (sorry, I just cannot resist the urge to post this whenever relevant or even not relevant).

Two areas worth watching for whenever the teams play one another are the goalies. Even though Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t get a chance to play in Montreal the last time, he and Habs’ netminder, Carey Price, have a years-long rivalry between each other.

Both goalies play with panache and both are near the top of the NHL in wins. Fleury leads the league with 17 victories, along with Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom. Price is one behind the two with 16 wins.

The Quebec-born Fleury has a lifetime mark of 13-8-2 against Montreal, but his peripherals are sub-par. A 3.25 goals-against average and .889 save percentage show the Flower has hit some rough patches against his boyhood team.

Price isn’t much better against Pittsburgh, going 8-6-2 with a 2.96 GAA and .896 save percentage.

Fleury has won 10 straight at Consol while Price boasts a 9-1-1 mark on the road.


*****


Pens-Habs: By the Numbers


Goals For/Against

Pens: 3.46 – 2.54 per game

Habs: 3.10 – 2.42


5-on-5 For/Against

Pens: 1.36

Habs: 1.40


Power Play

Pens: 26.3 percent, 15-for-57 (home)

Habs: 23.1 percent, 15-for-65 (road)

Pens hold the fifth-best unit at home while the Canadians rank second on the road.


Penalty Kill

Pens: 77.8 percent, 35-for-45 (home)

Habs: 83.3 percent, 40-for-48 (road)

Pens rank 24th at home while Montreal ranks sixth on the road. Interestingly, the Habs are fifth-worst (77.6) at home.


Power Play minus Penalty Kill Time

Pens: (-) 14.22

Habs: (+) 25.31

Montreal leads the NHL with more PP time versus PK time than any other team in the league.


Hits-Blocked Shots-Missed Shots-Giveaways-Takeaways

Pens: 363H-242BS-186MS-84G-62T (home)

Habs: 346H-224BS-160MS-96G-86T (road)

Pittsburgh is in the middle of the pack for hits, blocks and missed shots. Only two teams turn the puck over more at home than the Pens, but no team records fewer takeaways. Montreal’s numbers are similar to the Pens’. The Canadians also do a good job limiting giveaways.


Faceoffs

Pens: 51.6 percent, 1032W-970L

Habs: 48.7 percent, 947W-999L

That’s a direct reflection on Sidney Crosby’s decline in the circle. He’s taken more faceoffs than nearly any other NHLer and he hasn’t had a good month of March (for faceoffs only, of course).


Shots For/Against

Pens: 30.3 F – 28.2 A

Habs: 30.9 F – 26.5 A

Montreal is one of the few teams with a bigger gap between shots recorded and shots allowed than Pittsburgh.


Record Outshooting Opponent/Record When Outshot/Record When Shots Are Tied

Pens: 17-4, 7-3, 1-0

Habs: 14-4-4, 6-2-1, 0-0

Both teams do a nice job under any circumstances


Overtime/Shootout Records

Pens: 4-0

Habs: 4-5


Penalty Minutes

Pens: 10.8 per game

Habs: 13.3

Pittsburgh has the fourth-lowest penalty-minute total but the eight-highest number of minor penalties (131). Montreal is the seventh-most penalized team.


Record Leading After 1st Period, 2nd Period

Pens: 15-3, 13-0

Habs: 11-1-1, 10-1-2


Record Losing After 1st Period, 2nd Period

Pens: 4-3, 4-6

Habs: 0-2-1, 2-5-1

Anaheim and Chicago are the only other clubs with winning records when trailing after the first period.


Record When Scoring First/Trailing First

Pens: 16-5, 9-3

Habs: 16-3-3, 4-3-2

Pens and Habs are tied for the most wins in NHL when scoring first.


*****

Tweets ‘O the Day

Pens Inside Scoop ‏@PensInsideScoop

Bylsma said Cooke is "playing with an injury, hurt a little bit." Better to just play and not have 2 skates in a day. 100% when he plays -SK


Seth Rorabaugh ‏@emptynetters

Habs dman Josh Gorges on former Sharks teammate Douglas Murray: "If he catches you in the tracks, you better be ready."


Pens Inside Scoop ‏@PensInsideScoop

Morrow is playing tonight. Unless, as he put it, "I slip in the shower on the way out of here." Hopefully, he survived


Pens Inside Scoop ‏@PensInsideScoop

Bylsma said Malkin and Letang are "very close." Didn't rule them out tonight but didn't indicate they'll play. Game-time decision


*****

Poll Results

Question: Are you happy with the Pens' decision to trade Joe Morrow and a 5th round pick for Brenden Morrow and a 3rd?

More than three-quarters (77 percent) of voters are in favor of the Morrow-for-Morrow deal. Giving up a first-round draft choice might be taking a big risk, but if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup in 2013, then the risk-reward scenario is one which sits well with voters.


*****


Penguins Game-Day Audio

Dan Bylsma

Sidney Crosby

Brenden Morrow

Kris Letang

Michel Therrien

Courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins


*****

Treasure Life!
JT
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