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Penguins In Tampa To Play Lightning With Early Bird Special 4PM Puck Drop

November 29, 2013, 10:42 AM ET [37 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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The Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning are prepped and ready to skate off their Thanksgiving Day meals at the unique start time of 4PM. Given that the game is going is being played in Tampa perhaps this is a new ‘Early Bird Special’. Dinner and a game, be home by the time Jeopardy is on.

As for the actual matchup the Tampa Bay Lightning come into this afternoon’s game with a record of 4-3-2 since losing Steven Stamkos to the very unfortunate tibia break. At the time of Stamkos’ injury the Lightning were one of the good stories in the NHL. They were at the top of the Atlantic Division and showing no signs of slowing down. Currently they are in 2nd place in the Atlantic as the Boston Bruins have since leap frogged over them in the standings.

While much of the news surrounding the Tampa Bay Lightning has been about Stamkos’ injury and how that will impact the team moving forward, there has been some positive news as well.

Star winger Martin St. Louis just recently played in his 1,000th career NHL game. To celebrate the occasion St. Louis scored two goals and added an assist in Tampa’s 5-0 win over the New York Rangers.

Stamkos provided a nice surprise during that game as well as he showed up to the rink walking on his own and not using the assistance of crutches.

The last time these two squads played against each other it was a rough night for the goalies. Sidney Crosby had a hat trick and added an assist while the two teams combined for 5 power play goals. After Wednesday night’s wide open goal fest I would expect Dan Bylsma to try and rein his team back in and focus a little more on helping out defensively.
Sidney Crosby is the league leader in points with 33, Evgeni Malkin is now hot on his trail with 30 points of his own. Defending Art Ross winner Martin St. Louis is leading the way for the Lightning with 24 points.

James Neal has found his groove scoring goals and is 5th overall in the NHL with a goals per game average of .63. The players in front of him include Alex Ovechkin (.87), Alex Steen (.83), Steven Stamkos (.82), and Gustav Nyquist (.75). Nyquist has only played in 4 games.

If you have read this blog enough you will know that I prefer Sidney Crosby to play down low by the goal line on the power play. You will also know that I detest him playing the left point on said power play. Here is a shot chart for Crosby’s 2013-2014 season which would show where he does his most damage (chart courtesy of Sporting Charts):





Not only is he not a threat to score from the left point but he doesn’t even take shots from there. Get him where he scores his goals, by the goal mouth.


Line Combos


Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Jokinen-Malkin-Neal
Conner-Sutter-Ebbett
Adams-Vitale-Megna

Orpik-Letang
Maatta-Engelland
Despres-Niskanen-Bortuzzo

Projected lineup for Tampa Bay:


Brown-Filppula-St. Louis
Kucherov-Killorn-Purcell
Palat-Johnson-Panik
Aulie-Thompson-Crombeen

Carle-Sustr
Salo-Hedman
Brewer-Barberio


Injuries

Lots of pretty good players are hurt for this one today.

Paul Martin has a broken Tibia and will be out of action for 4-6 weeks

Beau Bennett has a broken wrist and will be out of action for 6-8 weeks

Tanner Glass has a broken hand and will be out 4-6 weeks

Rob Scuderi has a broken ankle and looks to be back in 3-4 weeks.

Steven Stamkos has a broken tibia and will be out 3-4 months. Paul Martin was lucky his break was not nearly as bad as Stamkos’

Ryan Malone is on injured reserve with a foot injury

Radko Gudas has an injury to his face and is questionable for this afternoon’s game.

Taylor Pyatt is out indefinitely with a broken collarbone.

Mattias Ohlund remains out of the lineup after having multiple knee surgeries, he has yet to play this season and might not.


Power Play

Penguins power play is 4th overall at 24.2%. They received a 2% bump and bumped up one spot in the overall league rankings after their performance against Toronto. Penguins rank 7th overall with 91 PP opportunities.

Lightning power play is ranked 19th at 17.6%. The Lightning also rank 7th with 91 PP opportunities.

Without Stamkos dropping bombs from the left circle it will be difficult to see the Lightning power play significantly improve from their 19th overall rank.


Penalty Kill

The Penguins have dropped from 5th to 8th overall in the NHL on the penalty kill and are at 85.1%

The Lightning are ranked 5th overall at 85.4%.

Penguins are 6th best in NHL with only being shorthanded 74 times

The Lightning are 17th overall and have been shorthanded 89 times.


Fenclose%


The Penguins are now 3rd overall at 55.2% after blanking the Maple Leafs in the shot department for 25 straight minutes on Wednesday night.

The Lightning are 15th overall at 50.2%


Even Strength Save %

The Lightning rank 14th overall in EVSV% with .925%. Ben Bishop is an at an impressive .935%.

The Penguins are ranked 27th overall with .908%. No matter how you slice it that is not a championship caliber number. Goaltending needs to pick it up. Marc Andre Fleury has slipped lately and it shows in the numbers as he is at a very mediocre .915%.

If he would stay in the net and not play the puck he could probably see a bump of .05 or better.


Trends

Penguins are 7-0 in the last 7 meetings

Penguins are 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Tampa Bay

Penguins are 1-5 in their last 6 road games

Lightning are 7-0 in their last 7 home games

Lightning are 6-1 in their last 7 Friday games

Lightning are 5-1 in their last 6 vs. Eastern Conference

Lightning are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. a team with a winning % above .600

Lightning are 1-6 in their last 7 when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in their previous game

Stats courtesy of Covers.com

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