The Penguins will look to catch fire again as they try to build off of their Saturday win over the New York Islanders. Tonight the Calgary Flames will pay their only visit to Pittsburgh. The Flames had what looked like a promising 2017-18 season, but their season crumbled much like the health of Jaromir Jagr. They are 3-6-1 in their last ten games and find themselves in real danger of missing the playoffs.
Not helping the cause is Mike Smith’s injury. It was a signing that was not lauded by most given his age and up and down play. This year he was proving the doubters wrong and he has an all situations save percentage of .922. A real great number. He’s been out since February 11th and the team has not done as well.
The Flames do have some real talent as they have one of the best lines in hockey and also one of the most entertaining players in hockey. The 3M line that consists of Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, and Michael Frolik. There are only three lines in the NHL who have played at least 200 minutes together that have better possession than the 59.07% the 3M is putting up. The nice thing about how the Penguins are structured is that they can throw their best line at that one and then assume the other two big lines can outplay the other team’s depth. On most nights that is going to work.
Johnny Gaudrea is electric and Sean Monahan has had a great year playing alongside Gaudreau. They both have great points per 60 at 5v5 with Gaudreau at 2.38 and Monahan at 2.25
The talent isn’t just on the offensive side of things. Calgary boasts what could be considered the best defense pairing in the NHL. Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton have had a great year. Among defenders with at least 600 minutes together they lead the NHL in possession as a pairing at 58.14%. In xGF% they are third overall at 56.88%. The Penguins duo of Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin are at 54.29% which is sixth best in the NHL. Kris Letang has had some bad isolated errors this year, but to suggest he’s having a bad year is sheer ignorance.
The forward lineup for the Penguins will remain the same as it was on Saturday night.
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist Hagelin-Malkin-Rust Simon-Brassard-Kessel Kuhnhackl-Sheahan-Sheary
Matt Murray was in full gear today, but did not take shots. Tristan Jarry will be the likely starter in net for Pittsburgh. Jon Gillies will be in the pipes for Calgary.
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