Pittsburgh Penguins (7-1-0) vs Colorado Avalanche (7-1-0) 7:30 PM at Consol Energy Center
The Penguins play host tonight to a national TV audience and to one of the younger, more interesting teams in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche have started this season shot out of a cannon and were able to rifle off 6 wins in a row to start the season. They are currently 7-1-0 which happens to be the same record as the Penguins.
This also doubles as the first showdown between Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia natives Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. Both players played at Shattuck-Saint Mary's and both were #1 overall picks. Crosby and MacKinnon skated together over the summer this year and if MacKinnon is able to keep emulating Crosby's career path he is in for a great future. Crosby said that he is very proud of what his protégé has been able to accomplish so far.
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This game features four former #1 overall picks. The aforementioned Crosby and MacKinnon, as well as Marc Andre Fleury and Erik Johnson.
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Rookie Head Coach and hockey legend Patrick Roy has immediately come in and changed the culture in Colorado. His energetic and fiercely competitive personality has been well received by the team. Patrick Roy tied a record with winning his first 6 games as a coach, tying him with the former Montreal Canadiens coach who famously left him in too long, Mario Tremblay.
The Avs bring one of the better forward groups in the NHL to the game today. Led by super talented Matt Duchene the Avs also boast Captain Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O'Reilly, Nate Mackinnon, Paul Stastny, PA Parenteau, Alex Tanguay, and Steve Downie.
Matt Duchene leads the way in the scoring department with 6 goals and 3 assists in 8 games. Future stud MacKinnon has 7 points,as does PA Parenteau.
First overall pick MacKinnon is putting up some impressive offensive numbers to start his career but that does not mean there aren't some bumps along the way. Despite MacKinnon having a 73.5% offensive zone starting percentage his Fenclose% is a team worst 38.8%. In the short term that could hurt the Avs, but in the long term looking back at that low number will be funny as MacKinnon will be vastly improved and a future star.
On paper the Avs defense looks suspect, but to this point they have held their own. Much maligned former #1 overall pick Erik Johnson is off to a very good start this year. Johnson and his partner Jan Hejda have absorbed the top shutdown minutes for the Avs, yet are the only two defensemen who have a positive possession rating on the team.
Despite the tough competition and the 43% offensive zone starts Johnson has a Fenclose% of 52.3%. Hejda, his partner, is at 50.4%. To say that those two have carried the Avs defense to this point would be an understatement. They will certainly have their hands full with Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, and Pascal Dupuis. That matchup will go a long way in deciding tonight's game.
Sidney Crosby will be looking to extend his point scoring streak to start a season to a career best 9 games. He will also look to maintain his other worldly 2 points per game pace. Patrick Roy had this to say about Sid:
"Crosby is in a class by his own right now. 17 points in seven games."
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One of the biggest factors for the Avs success this year has been their goaltending, it has been excellent. On the surface it appears that Roy has given Varlamov and Giguere some of his personal secrets.
The Avalanche as a team are 4th in the NHL with an EVSV% of .957. That is tremendous. Varlamov is at .959% and Giguere is at .962%.
It will be Giguere who will get the start for the Avalanche tonight. Fleury will play for the Penguins.
The Penguins may be 22nd overall in EVSV% with .917% but that is a little misleading as the undefeated Marc Andre Fleury has an EVSV% of .935%.
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Fenclose%
After the Canucks came in and controlled much of the even strength flow on Saturday the Penguins have dropped to 7th overall at 54.6%
The Avalanche are 18th overall at 48.5%
Power Play
The Penguins are 2nd overall in the NHL at28.0% and only trail Washington's 33.3%. The Penguins went 1 for 4 on the power play against the Canuck's 1st overall PK unit. He Penguins are still near the bottom of the league in PP opportunities, they rank 28th with 25 opportunities.
The Avalanche have a respectable power play of their own, which is no surprise considering the weapons they have. Their conversion rate is good for 8th overall at 24.1%.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins are 23rd overall at 78.3%.
The Avalanche are 4th overall in the league with an impressive 87.5% success rate.
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Lines from morning skate
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Jokinen-Malkin-Kobasew
Glass-Sutter-Conner
Zolnierczyk-Vitale-Adams (Jeffrey)
Orpik-Martin
Scuderi-Niskanen
Maatta-Bortuzzo
Engelland-Letang
Fleury
Projected lineup for Colorado:
Landeskog-Stastny-Tanguay
O'Reilly-Duchene-Downie
McGinn-MacKinnon-Parenteau
Cliche-Mitchell-Bordeleau
Johnson-Hejda
Wilson-Guenin
Benoit-Sarich
Giguere
Thanks for reading!
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