Pittsburgh Penguins (15-9-1) vs Toronto Maple Leafs (14-9-1) 7:30 PM at CONSOL Energy Center
The Pittsburgh Penguins will welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs for some American Thanksgiving Eve hockey action. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Penguin has been on the menu more times than they would like when these two teams have played the last 3 ¼ seasons. In their last 11 matchups the Penguins are 6-5-1 against the Maple Leafs and on most of those occasions the Leafs have really frustrated the Penguins.
Entering tonight’s matchup both teams are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and both teams are suffering from the injury bug.
The Penguins will be playing without Paul Martin, Tanner Glass, and Beau Bennett.
The Penguins also elected to wave underwhelming forward Matt D’Agostini. After getting healthy D’Agostini was given a legitimate chance to stake his claim to the lineup and he did not bring the goods. At the end of the day D'Agostini was a low risk low reward signing for the Penguins. It happens, the key is to cut bait sooner rather than later and it appears the Penguins have done just that.
In order to replace those players Ray Shero has had to dip back into the farm system. Coming up from WB/S includes promising defenseman Simon Despres, Jayson Megna, and Chris Conner.
Simon Despres has been playing wonderful hockey down in WB/S. The Penguins organization has given Despres a specific task of polishing up his defensive game in order to better prepare him for the NHL. Here is an excerpt from an article written by Jonathan Bombulie about Despres (h/t Deadstar):
Despres has always been known as a pretty good offensive player, but this season, in an effort to polish up his game before he heads to the NHl for good, the WBS coaches have asked him to focus on the defensive zone. He’s on the first penalty kill D pair and rarely sees time on the power play.Here’s what coach John Hynes said about it the other day.
“Simon’s in a situation in his career where he’s really focused on certain aspects of his game. He’s played very well since he’s been here. Part of it, with Simon right now, is putting him in situations that are going help him get himself to be a full-time National Hockey League player. For him right now, it’s being a big, strong shutdown defenseman. He’s made smart decisions. His game has been under control. He’s first over the boards on the penalty kill. He’s been the defenseman we’ve matched with the other team’s best players, and he’s done a real nice job of that. Right now, to be focused on those components is what’s best for him and his game right now.…
I believe that Despres and Megna have a great shot at being on any potential Penguins playoff roster later in the year. It appears the Penguins are still high on Despres' potential at the NHL level, they just want to polish up all the loose ends before unleashing him full time.
Megna will need to pick up where he left off on his last recall. Simple effective hockey where he uses his speed and size to make the correct basic plays all the time. For right now that is all the Penguins 3rd line needs.
Conner is what he is, a tweener that will never be a productive NHL player but will have loads of AHL success. Anytime you see him up with the Penguins you know they are depleted.
The Maple Leafs will be playing without Penguins killer Joffrey Lupul as he is out with a groin strain. Lupul has 11 goals and 7 assists in 22 career games against the Penguins. The Penguins aren’t the only team that Lupul has success against though; he is a very good offensive player.
The problem is that he is consistently finding himself in and out of the lineup because of injury. Lupul has missed 137 games out of the last 318. During that sample size he has a .37 goals per game average which is pretty solid. In his past two years with Toronto it has swelled to .50 goals per game.
The Maple Leafs have only scored 18 goals in their past 10 games so losing Lupul certainly hurts.
As far as healthy players go James Neal and Evgeni Malkin will look to keep up their torrid offensive pace. In the past 4 games Neal has 5 goals and 8 points while Malkin has 1 goal and 7 points. In Malkin’s last 10 games he has 1 goal and 13 assists.
Rumor has it that James Neal ditched the tinted visor and since he has gone to the clear version his goal scoring has exploded.
Line Combos
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Conner-Sutter-Ebbett Adams-Vitale-Megna
Orpik-Letang Maatta-Engelland Despres-Niskanen-Bortuzzo
Right off the bat I am not a fan of Megna playing 4th line minutes while Chris Conner gets a 3rd line look. Frankly, I would rather see Engelland in a 4th line winger role and Conner not playing at all. Conner is not an effective NHL player (*cue Conner scoring a goal tonight*)
Logic would dictate pairing Maatta back up with Bortuzzo seeing as though that pairing has had good success so far this year. That would allow for a Niskanen Despres pairing. Instead one of Despres or Bortuzzo will be benched for an ineffective AHL forward call up. I don't agree with that.
Projected lineup for Toronto:
Van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Kessel Raymond-Kadri-Clarkson McClement-Holland-Kulemin McLaren-Smithson-Orr
Phaneuf-Gunnarsson Fraser-Franson Gardiner-Rielly
Injuries
Terrible news was released today as Paul Martin was diagnosed with a broken tibia bone. He will miss 4-6 weeks. Martin has been the Penguins best defenseman and with Scuderi already out it will really test the Penguins depth at the position. Kris Letang will need to pick up his level of play.
Beau Bennett has been placed on IR. He will miss 8-10 weeks with a broken/hand wrist after having surgery.
Paul Martin has been placed on IR with an undisclosed injury. He will be re-evaluated in the coming days.
Tanner Glass has been placed on IR with a broken hand. He will miss 3-4 weeks.
Joffrey Lupul will miss tonight’s game with a grade 2 groin strain.
Dave Bolland is out indefinitely after suffering from a skate laceration which cut into a tendon by his ankle.
Power Play
Penguins power play is 5th overall at 22.1%. Penguins rank 13th overall with 86 PP opportunities.
Maple Leafs power play is ranked 2nd at 24.3%. Leafs rank rank 27th with only 74 PP opportunities.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins have dropped from 2nd to 5th overall in the NHL on the penalty kill and are at 85.9%
The Leafs are ranked 18th overall at 81.5%.
That is a far cry from their 2nd overall ranking from last season when they are at 87.1% Penguins are 4th best in NHL with only being shorthanded 71 times
The Maple Leafs are 24th overall and have been shorthanded 94 times.
Fenclose%
The Penguins are 4th overall at 54.8%
The Leafs are right where they were last year, 29th overall at 42.5%
Even Strength Save %
One way to balance out bad possession numbers is to have excellent goaltending. The Maple Leafs have had that with James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier.
The Leafs rank 3rd overall in EVSV% with .942%
The Penguins are still near the bottom of the league ranked 25th overall at paltry .913%.
Trends
Maple Leafs are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. Metropolitan
Maple Leafs are 4-1 in their last 5 after allowing 5 goals or more in their previous game
Maple Leafs are 0-4 in their last 4 road games
Penguins are 2-5 in their last 7 when their opponent allows 5 goals or more in their previous game
Stats courtesy of Covers.com
Thanks for reading!