Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie Much to the chagrin of Blues and Penguins fans, the Blues will be hosting the Penguins at 11am since the game today was moved from 2pm to 11am thanks to the almighty NBC. Of course, actual ticket purchasing NHL fans have long known they are the ugly step child to the TV viewing audience in the NHL’s world.
The Penguins have struggled on the road this season, going 10-15-3 and are 1-3-1 in their last five road games but they are hot right now, going 5-1-1 in their last 7 games. They are 11th in scoring at 3.04 goals per game but are 21st in goals against per game at 3.00. Given they have Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, it isn’t a surprise that the lead the NHL in power play efficiency, converting almost 27% of their power plays. They also are strong on the penalty kill, raking 6th. The Penguins will be looking to avenge their opening night loss to the Blues in Pittsburgh.
You might be surprised to learn that Phil Kessel leads the Penguins in scoring with 65 points in 56 games. I would argue that Malkin is having a better season than Kessel with 30 goals (6 more) and only 2 fewer points with 4 fewer games. Malkin is averaging 1.21 points per game to Kessel’s 1.16. Malkin trails only Brad Marchand, Nikita Kucherov, and Nathan McKinnon in points per game. He only trail Alex Ovechkin in goals.
Penguins’ goalie Matt Murray is having a very pedestrian season with a 90.3% save percentage which ranks him 31st among goalies with 25 games played. This is third worst, only better than Scott Darling and Cam Talbot.
Malkin has been on fire with 9 goals and 5 assists in his last 6 games. Kessel has 11 points in his last 7 games while Crosby has 13 points in his last 10 games. Against the Blues, Malkin has 13 points in 13 games while Crosby has 13 points in 15 games. Kris Letang has 9 points in 12 games versus the Blues. Murray has struggled against the Blues without a win and only an 87.1% save percentage.
It will be interesting to see who the Blues start in net. Carter Hutton has been insanely good against the Penguins stopping 74 of 75 shots in route to a 2-0 record. Jake Allen has been below average against the Penguins with an 89.4% save percentage but Allen has been significantly better in day games over his career.
Alexander Steen has 11 points in his last 10 games and points in three straight games. Jaden Schwartz also has points in three straight and has 5 points in his last 5 games.
Speaking of Steen, he has 18 points in 22 games against the Penguins. Brayden Schenn has 9 goals and 22 points in 27 games while Paul Stastny has 11 points in 14 games. Colton Parayko has 4 points in 5 games against the Penguins.
For the Blues, I’m guessing the lines will start like these:
Forwards Alexander Steen - Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Patrik Berglund Ivan Barbashev - Vladimir Sobotka – Dmitrij Jaskin Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko Robert Bortuzzo -Vince Dunn
Goalie TBD
The game will mark former Blue Ryan Reaves return to St. Louis. I would presume they will do a nice video tribute to Ryan who may not have scored a lot of goals on the ice but gave a lot for his teammates and his community while he was here.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers Nashville Predator's Paul McCann, Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others will donate in their name.