Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal
The Penguins will welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Consol Energy Center for a mid March early bird special.
The Lightning come into the game with an impressive 85 points on the season. That is good for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division and 3rd overall in the conference. Making it all the more impressive is the fact they continued to find success after their superstar Steven Stamkos broke his leg.
Stamkos is back and his placeholder as one of the most dynamic forwards in the league is back as well. After starting off slow in his return (3GP 0Pts) he has turned it up a notch. He has 7 points in his last 5 games including 5 goals. He picked up a hat trick against the Maple Leafs. If the Penguins guard Stamkos like the Leafs did, they too will give up 3 goals to the superstar.
How much do you want to bet that the Lightning put Stamkos in a spot on the power play that gives him the best chance to succeed?
In a stat courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins via Jen Bullano, it looks as though Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos very much enjoy playing against one another.
In 13 career games played against one another Sidney Crosby has 9 goals and 10 assists and Steven Stamkos has 7 goals and 9 assists. Two of the best in the game trying to show off in front of one another, great stuff.
In the first 3 games after the St. Louis trade the Lightning went 0-1-2 with 2 shootout losses. Perhaps that trade took a little bit out of them given that their leader whined his way out of town. Since those 3 games the Lightning have been excellent they have won 5 straight games heading into today.
Ryan Callahan has 5 points in 8 games with Tampa Bay.
The Penguins have sent down winger Beau Bennett to WB/S for a conditioning assignment. The Penguins would like Beau to see some game action before putting him back into the NHL lineup. Perhaps Beau will play on a line with Jayson Megna and they both will be recalled at the same time, one can hope.
Winger Joe Vitale will miss both weekend games with an upper body injury. That means Taylor Pyatt will more than likely return to the Penguins lineup.
Kris Letang had an interesting comment the other day about his health status:
Letang said he still has good days, bad days, feels no sense of danger practicing at high level. #Penguins
— Shelly Anderson (@pgshelly) March 21, 2014The fact he is still having “bad days… should really put a temper on his expected return date. Get well Kris.
In 26 career games against the Lightning Evgeni Malkin has 16 goals and 32 points. Malkin looked great against Detroit, expect more of the same today against Tampa Bay. Some of Geno’s best highlight reel goals have come at the expense of Tampa Bay.
Penguins are 1-2-1 in their last 4 games; if they lose today it very well could be 1-4-1 in their last 6 after the St. Louis game.
Today should be a good test for the Penguins against a playoff team that is playing well.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal