The Penguins and Wild will conclude their season series today when they play an afternoon matinee game in Minnesota. When the teams met in Pittsburgh earlier this year the Wild left with a 4-2 victory and old nemesis Eric Staal had a three point contest.
Minnesota is currently in third place in the Central Division but has been getting some mixed results lately. They are 4-5-1 in their last ten games.
Here is what Minnesota's lines have looked like recently
Pittsburgh will once again be without the services of two of their top six wingers. Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist continue to mend from their ailments.
Assuming Devan Dubnyk and Matt Murray start the game for their respective teams we will have two of the top three goaltenders in the NHL in even-strength save percentage. Devan Dubnyk leads the way with 96.25% and Matt Murray is at 95.65%. Sandwiched in-between them is Carey Price at 95.69%.
Marc-Andre Fleury just recently talked with Josh Yohe of DK on Pittsburgh Sports about the goaltender rotation
I spoke with MAF about the current goalie rotation. It hasn't been easy for him. Read more here: https://t.co/7u3rkkAkFx
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) November 25, 2016
“It’s definitely a little different than what I’m used to,… he said. “No doubt about it. It’s been hard for me. I’m just trying to find ways to feel normal, to feel good.…“I talked with the coaches a while ago,… he said. “They said the schedule was compressed and that meant that both Matty and I were going to play a lot. That’s just the way it was going to be.…
It is something that he is going to have to adjust to because Matt Murray's play is deserving of being the 1a.
Look for Matt Cullen to have some jump in his step this afternoon. He is from the state of Minnesota and the Penguins only visit once per year. Adding to it this time around is the fact that this is very likely his last NHL season and thus his last appearance in his home state in a professional capacity.
Other Minnesota connections include Phil Kessel playing his college hockey at Minnesota and Sidney Crosby playing at Shattuck-St Mary's for prep school which is a little bit south of Minneapolis.
Nick Bonino had two assists last game. That is his first multi-point game of the year and it matched his entire output in the month of November up until that game. He started slow last year and has done so again this year. Getting him going would go a long way in making Pittsburgh as dangerous as they were last year.
Here's a look at some leaders in 'game score' this year
Game Score leaders this season pic.twitter.com/TmXMFTqJhF
— dom 🤔 (@omgitsdomi) November 24, 2016
Sidney Crosby leads all non-goaltenders in the per game average of game score at 1.56.
Ian Fleming gives a good look at some of Pittsburgh's trends so far this year
The Penguins picked up their season totals at the Rangers' expense pic.twitter.com/uKw7LA7C9F
— Ian Fleming (@imfleming16) November 24, 2016
There has been some improvement lately. Both possession and expected goals has seen an uptick which is good news.
Thanks for reading!