Against all odds the Penguins will be in game action tomorrow against the Philadelphia Flyers in a tune up game before the play-in round for the playoffs. The NHL’s Covid plan is working about as well as anybody could have hoped to this point.
NHL statement on COVID-19 testing results: pic.twitter.com/5dObzonFWA
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) July 27, 2020
The players are starting to enter the bubble. Nobody has tested positive lately. This should hypothetically be the most difficult stage to manage because of the traveling from multiple areas into one (two hubs). Being in Canada will help keep this playoff dream alive. You can see how MLB is doing for a reference point.
Sidney Crosby was a full participant at practice again and I don’t think his health will be an issue when the Penguins are ready to face Montreal. It has yet to be decided if he will play tomorrow against the Flyers
#Pens coach Sullivan on if Crosby will play in the exhibition game versus the Flyers on Tuesday: "We'll make that decision tomorrow." -MC
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) July 27, 2020
The gap between playing against another NHL team has been a shade shorter than the gap teams missing the playoffs have until their next preseason game by about half a month. This was a long and unique layoff. My hope is we don’t see too many players tweaking muscles after the very long layoff.
Here is some good information about upcoming series
ICYMI â¬‡ï¸ https://t.co/bxv8xn8zaH
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) July 27, 2020
There’s a lot of cool information on how every team goes about their business. For example, Pittsburgh is a really good forechecking team and Montreal is better on the rush. It is worth checking out the different charts.
Also
2020 NHL qualifying round preview: Penguins vs. Canadiens
— dom luszczyszyn (@domluszczyszyn) July 27, 2020
The most lopsided series of the qualifying round, but one that would tilt even more in Pittsburgh's favour with two key lineup tweaks.https://t.co/K9rUTicVqX pic.twitter.com/ZixCHUvReE
Bet you can’t guess what one of the lineup changes is
Here are the Canadiens lines from practice
Habs say lines are:
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) July 27, 2020
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Suzuki - Armia
Byron - Kotkaniemi - Lehkonen
Weise - Domi - Weal
Hudon - Poehling - Evans - Belzile
Chiarot - Weber
Kulak - Petry
Ouellet - Mete
Olofsson - Folin
Fleury - Juulsen
I don’t know if Domi will stay where he is. They might be slow playing him back because of his late arrival to camp due to concerns about his Type I diabetes.
Thanks for reading!