The Penguins will be putting their three game winning streak on the line tonight against a team that has already bested them once this season.
The Dallas Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 in the season opener and since then have played some very entertaining hockey. The Stars are 5-1 and have won four consecutive games in a row.
Here are how the two teams stack up so far this season in some major categories
Based on some early season trends it looks as though Marc-Andre Fleury will need to continue churning out quality starts. Dallas to this point has been the better possession and shooting team so far this year.
The two teams played a fairly even matchup in the season opener but Antti Niemi stood on his head to shut out the Penguins. As you can see the Dallas goaltending has dipped since that scorching start on opening night.
It goes without saying but Pittsburgh needs to keep Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn in check. Easier said than done. Jamie Benn leads the NHL with six goals so far this year and both players have ten points apiece. That is good for second overall in the league.
The big news from the morning skate:
Dupuis said he's cleared himself. Looks like he'll play. #Pens
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) October 22, 2015
Terrific news. Pascal Dupuis is a productive player that still has speed to burn. Perfect kind of player to help in their matchup against the Dallas Stars.
Since the start of the 2012-13 season Pascal Dupuis has a points per 60 at even-strength of 2.35. That is 12th best in the NHL. Sure that is with playing wing with Sidney Crosby but 12th best is 12th best. That is really good no matter how you slice it.
Given the Penguins left wing struggles so far this year I would place Dupuis in a top six LW role right off the bat. Nothing to lose as Chris Kunitz and David Perron have combined for zero points this year.
Pittsburgh's Mike Johnston has altered the player usage of some of Pittsburgh's best players
Crazy: Evgeni Malkin has played 6:10 of shorthanded hockey this year; played 6:15 SH in all of 14-15. Stick tap to @PensPRLady/@djseidling
— Josh Getzoff (@PensJG) October 22, 2015
Evgeni Malkin has already generated a number of great offensive chances on the penalty kill and will continue to do so if he gets PK time.
This is an area where the Penguins used to be dangerous but haven't been in recent years
Pittsburgh Shorthanded Goals (rank)
2011-12: 11 (3rd) 2012-13 2 (24th) 2013-14 4 (24th) 2014-15 6 (14th)
The 2011-12 season was the last season Jordan Staal was with the club and he was no doubt a big part of generating time and space for goal scoring situations. As the Penguins started to lean more towards unskilled pluggers the potential for shorthanded goals went down. This is an area with the altered usage of Crosby/Malkin where perhaps the Penguins can start stealing some extra goals. Every little bit counts.
These two teams have fun rosters and I look forward to this matchup. Here is to hoping they play each other in a meaningful game for a third time this season...
Thanks for reading!