The Pittsburgh Penguins have had plenty of time off since their 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night and that is a good thing considering who they play tonight.
The Penguins are taking on one of the best teams in hockey, the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis is currently the fourth best team in the NHL and the second best team in the Western Conference. They have been able to do this despite missing Paul Stastny and Jaden Schwartz for a large chunk of the season.
Here are how the two teams match up against one another.
St. Louis is a team that is committed to playing "200 foot hockey" but is actually seeing proper results. Their roster is also built a lot differently.
Some news on the Olli Maatta front:
Coach said that Olli Maatta skated before this morning's practice.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 24, 2015
His time table to return remains the same but getting back on the ice without a setback is the first step in maintaining that original time frame.
Robert Bortuzzo is back in Pittsburgh.
Now Crosby comes over to say hello to Bortuzzo. They splowed up. #Pens #Blues pic.twitter.com/CQFEmfpA9a
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) November 25, 2015
Even with Ian Cole playing poorly with Kris Letang the Bortuzzo trade was a good one for the Penguins. Since switching to Adam Clendening Ian Cole his CF% has skyrocketed to 68.9% *only 26:53*. The other 290 minutes have been a disappointing 45.5%.
Pittsburgh fans are in for a real treat tonight when they get to watch a superstar from the new generation. Vladimir Tarasenko is worth the price of admission on his own. In all likliehood he is going to be the successor to Alex Ovechkin as the league's best goal scorer.
In the past two years in all situations Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL with a goals per 60 of 1.86. Tarasenko is second overall at 1.69. Only Tyler Seguin (3.69), Patrick Kane (3.48), and Jamie Benn (3.40) have a better overall points/60 than Tarasenko's 3.22.
Making the task of covering Tarasenko even more difficult is the fact that he got his center back last game. Paul Stastny had been out injured since October 16 but made his return last game. Stastny is an underrated playmaker which will help Tarasenko find that much more space out there and he already doesn't need much.
In a league that doesn't encourage an entertaining product Tarasenko is one of the few players who can rise above it and execute plays that make you smile.
Marc-Andre Fleury is going to have his hands full tonight.
Thanks for reading!
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