The Pittsburgh Penguins will return to game action tonight against the Calgary Flames. They will be without Evgeni Malkin, Conor Sheary, and Carl Hagelin.
Matt Murray will be making the start in goal. Marc-Andre Fleury was very good on Saturday. He did what good backup goalies do and that is play well.
Tom Kuhnhackl will be drawing back into the lineup for the first time in a long time. Here is what the lines could potentially look like this evening based on what the team was doing Saturday:
Kunitz-Crosby-Rust Guentzel-Bonino-Kessel Wilson-Rowney-Hornqvist Kuhnhackl-Cullen-Fehr
The Calgary Flames are known to have some exciting young forwards, but their team strength this year has been shot suppression not generation. They are the fourth best CA/60 team in the NHL at 51.7 and the 18th best at generating shot attempts at 54.6. Pittsburgh is the opposite. The Penguins are very good at generation and unlike last year they don't do a great job on the suppression front. The Penguins are fourth in CF/60 at 58.9 and only 21st at 57.1 at preventing them.
Dougie Hamilton is having a tremendous season. His 5v5 points per 60 is 1.46 which is second best among NHL defenders. The only defenseman better than him is Brent Burns at a ludicrous 2.17.
Evgeni Malkin skated again with a non-contact jersey on. He also spoke about his snub from the top 100 list
Malkin's full quote re: his reaction to being left off NHL 100 is perfect. For me, always the most interesting guy to hear from on the team. pic.twitter.com/nIhD5uFkgv
— Angie (@acarducci) February 6, 2017
Sidney Crosby is on the cusp on notching the 1,000th point of his illustrious NHL career. It has not gotten in the way of him being a great human being
There was no plan whatsoever for Sidney Crosby to meet with the Kramer family today. He did anyway. https://t.co/Z3pP19i3QW
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) February 6, 2017
Former University of Pittsburgh star Larry Fitzgerald attempted ice hockey for the first time ever
Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals is practicing with some of the @ArizonaCoyotes today. It's his first time on skates. pic.twitter.com/B89hvGkCTK
— Dave Vest (@davest4yotes) February 6, 2017
Thanks for reading!