So the Penguins did indeed have their flippers full with the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. They lost by two, but you never had sense the Penguins were up to the task. Even Sidney Crosby had a bad game to highlight how things went.
Early indications are that John Marino is ok.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) February 7, 2020
They cannot afford to lose John Marino. He’s been a blessing for the Penguins. He did not practice today for obvious reasons and will get further testing. Here’s to hoping Josh’s original indications are correct.
As for the Penguins power play
#Pens working on the PP. It went 0 for 11 in the past 2 games. Rotating Letang and Schultz with the top unit -SK
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) February 7, 2020
It’s no good. It hasn’t been great. They will need it to have a pulse. I talked about shooting talent the other day and one of the guys with all the shooting talent is being shopped.
Canadiens forward Ilya Kovalchuk is drawing trade interest from the Bruins, Flames and Oilers, @EricEngels reports in a new notebook. ⬇ï¸https://t.co/QNuPo4TeKu
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 7, 2020
I’m not a huge fan of relying on small samples like the one Kovalchuk has in Montreal. I’m also not a huge fan of the Los Angeles Kings and what they do to players and their ability to produce offense. I am fully confident Kovalchuk’s shot could help the Penguins power play and would probably turn their power play into something elite. His 5v5 play still has some uncertainties, but it’s been just fine so far with the Canadiens. He’s been 57.14 in CF% and 63.69 in xGF% in his 17 games. He’s a a reasonably cheap option (price going up) and the Penguins run Alex Galchenyuk out there every game. Why would this be worse?
Thanks for reading!