The Penguins play host to the Ottawa Senators this evening and there will be some different line combinations heading into this one.
The Sidney Crosby line will stay the same but the middle two lines will have a different look.
Evgeni Malkin now has both wingers from the HBK line while Bonino will take on Malkin's wingers from the Cup run. Right now, head coach Mike Sullivan is using the regular season to work out some combinations and that is fine. You have that luxury when you are two points off the NHL lead in the standings. The HBK line has been a mess and because of that Sullivan has had to adjust. Conor Sheary and Patric Hornqvist are doing great things with Crosby so there is no need to change that up.
The only certain thing about the fourth line is that Matt Cullen will center it. There are a group of players that could lay claim to the winger spots with Cullen on any given night. Tonight it will be Wilson and Fehr. My hunch is that the team is keeping Fehr in the lineup on a nightly basis to "showcase" him. If that spot was being rewarded for on-ice play he wouldn't be in it.
On the defensive side, Brian Dumoulin will be with Kris Letang, and Olli Maatta will play with Trevor Daley. The successful Cole-Schultz pairing will remain intact as well.
Derrick Pouliot is back from his conditioning stint with the Baby Penguins and will be looking for some NHL playing time eventually. Sullivan addressed that today.
Pouliot expressed his frustrations to Josh Yohe the other day.
“The thing is that you try and not get frustrated,” Pouliot told me. “But it is frustrating, not really knowing when you’ll get in the lineup. It’s tough to deal with at times.”
“I’m just going to keep working,” he said. “I’m just trying to get in there at some point. Hopefully when I do, I’ll be able to make some kind of an impression.”
The bottom pairing has been great so they aren't going to come out of the lineup for Pouliot right now. That leaves Dumoulin, Maatta, and Daley. Dumoulin already found himself a healthy scratch last week and I don't believe that is going to be a common tactic with him moving forward so that just leaves the other two. When we take a look at the possession numbers of Penguins defensemen this year it is Daley and Maatta who are struggling most.
There are a few things the coaches could do here.
Seeing as though Daley and Maatta are somewhat struggling compared to their peers the team could elect to shelter them and promote Schultz and Cole to a larger role considering the success they are having. The other option is to give Maatta and Daley some time off and let Pouliot play a few games. Pouliot is going to get some action in the near future, but it remains to be seen how much he will get and how well he will do with the minutes he is given.
Marc-Andre Fleury is going to make his third consecutive start.
Sullivan implied the decision was performance based.
Conor Tompkins just released a study he put together about the before and after effect of Mike Bales on Marc-Andre Fleury
It will be Craig Anderson and not Penguins legend Mike Condon in net tonight for the Senators.
Daniel Sprong is back to firing pucks
It's always good to see players ramping up their participation after major surgery. It still remains likely that he will be sent back to junior hockey.
Thanks for reading!
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