The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators last night by a score of 4-1. Prior to the game I wrote about three players who needed to start scoring goals in order for the Penguins to be more successful. Two out of those three players scored goals last night and the third player had arguably the best game out of any Penguins forward.
James Neal and Pascal Dupuis each scored and Evgeni Malkin looked really good throughout the night. Kudos to those guys, I appreciate their timing.
There is no time to soak up the accolades of victory, the Penguins have a quick turnaround and will be facing Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey Devils tonight.
Currently the Devils are in 5th place in the Metro Division with a record of 6-8-5. The Penguins lead the division with a record of 12-7-0.
Jaromir Jagr enters tonight's game with 686 goals, 1016 assists for 1702 points. That leaves him only 4 goals and 21 points behind Penguins owner and legend Mario Lemieux.
Jagr has 3 points in his last 3 games. Jagr is also the leading point scorer on the Devils this year. He has 14 points in 19 games. If the Devils cannot start to gain ground in the standings he will most certainly be a trade target for a contender just like he was last year for Boston.
Devils legend Martin Brodeur will be getting the start tonight. Brodeur had a rough patch earlier in the season but lately he has found his groove. Brodeur is 4-1-0 and stopped 102 of 106 shots faced in his past five starts.
The Penguins don't need to change much from their approach last night. They played a solid game from top to bottom. Look for the chemistry between Malkin and Neal start to click on all cylinders as time goes on. They aren't quite there yet but it won't be long.
Injuries
Captain Bryce Salvador is on IR with a fracture in his foot. Ryan Clowe is also on IR with a head injury.
Anton Volchenkov is questionable with a lower body injury. No changes in status for Scuderi, Vokoun, and Kobasew.
Line Combos
The Penguins cancelled their morning skate today. Here are the projected line combos : Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Bennett-Sutter-D'Agostini Adams-Vitale-Glass
Orpik-Martin Maatta-Letang Niskanen-Engelland
1st PP unit: Martin and Malkin on points. Kunitz, Neal and Crosby down low.
2nd PP unit: Niskanen and Maatta on points. Jokinen, Sutter and Bennett down low.
Jeff Zatkoff could be getting the start in goal
Martin Brodeur will be starting for the Devils.
Projected lines for New Jersey:
Zubrus-Zajac-Jagr Brunner-Elias-Ryder Henrique-Loktionov-Bernier Carter-Gionta-Janssen
Greene-Zidlicky Gelinas-Larsson Harrold-Fayne
Power Play
Penguins power play is 6th overall at 22.1%.
Devils have the 19th power play in the NHL with 16.9%.
Penguins are 15th in the NHL with 68 opportunities while the Devils are 21st with 65.
Penalty Kill
Penguins are 14th overall at 83.0%
Devils are 7th overall at 85.9%
Fenclose% The Penguins are 5th overall with 55.4%
The Devils are 8th overall at 53.2%
Even Strength Save Percentage
The Penguins are 21st sitting at .918%. Marc Andre Fleury is at .924%
The Devils are 23rd overall at .917% Martin Brodeur has a .918%.
Goals
Goals For/Game
Pittsburgh 10th overall at 2.84
New Jersey is 27th overall at 2.00
Goals Against/Game
Penguins are 7th overall at 2.26
Devils are 9th at 2.32
The Penguins are in the top 10 for in goals for per game as well as goals against per game.
Only 2 other teams are in the top 10 in both categories, the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche. Trends
Home team is 20-8 in the last 28 meetings.
Penguins are 1-6 in the last 7 meetings in New Jersey.
Stats courtesy of Covers.com
Thanks for reading!