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The Pittsburgh Penguins return to game action tonight against the Michael Therrien and the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens are currently in 3rd place in the Atlantic Division but have the Toronto Maple Leafs hot on their tail. In the last 10 games the Canadiens have been treading water as they are 4-4-2. The Penguins are coming off one of their more lackluster performances of the year, if not their most lackluster performance.
They may have had some built in excuses with being off for so long and having multiple players returning from injury, but that should be a one game excuse. The Penguins will need to come out with a high compete level to get back on track.
The great news for the Penguins is that Tomas Vokoun has returned to the ice this morning. Vokoun is off his blood thinning medication and getting off of that medication was the 1st step for Vokoun to return to the ice. Today was the first time he has been off the ice since September when his blood clot was first diagnosed.
Vokoun going through his motions in net -- but not taking shots -- before #Penguins skate. pic.twitter.com/Ca9sEeMyGq
— Shelly Anderson (@pgshelly) January 22, 2014While it is great to see Vokoun back on the ice it is still a long road back to competing at the NHL level. Vokoun worked with goalie coach Mike Bales today for about 30 minutes but did not take any shots.
It is terrific to see Vokoun back on the ice and taking steps towards becoming healthy again. Whether or not he plays in another NHL game is not important, being healthy to live a long and productive life is.
Also skating today before practice was Beau Bennett and Brian Gibbons. They worked out with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar.
The other day I threw out a stat that showed the Penguins goals against average has gone up almost a full goal since Kris Letang came back into the lineup 6 games ago. I also mentioned that it was not solely on Kris Letang for that bump in the wrong direction. You’d be surprised who the worst culprit has been:
58 and 71 take most blame for PIT recent goals against total (24 in 6 games), but know who has been on ice for most goals that stretch? 87
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) January 21, 2014Past 6 games on-ice goals against: Crosby 9, Scuderi, 9, Orpik, 8, Kunitz 8, Letang 7, Malkin 7.
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) January 21, 2014The problem with those numbers is that the Penguins are so reliant on Crosby and Malkin right now that they can’t afford to be on the wrong end of stats like that right now.
Line Combos
Kunitz-Crosby-Kobasew Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Glass-Sutter-Pyatt Adams-Sill-Engelland
Ebbett/Megna did not participate in the line rushes
Not a fan of Megna being left off, hopefully it is because of injury and not a coach’s decision. I don’t foresee Chuck Kobasew providing much help to the top line.
Orpik-Martin Scuderi-Letang Maatta-Niskanen-Bortuzzo
No surprises on defense. This will be the first time all year that this grouping has played together for two consecutive games
Montreal’s projected lineup
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Gallagher Eller-Plekanec-Gionta Bourque-Briere-Prust Leblanc-Bournival-Moen
Markov-Subban Beaulieu-Gorges Emelin-Diaz
Fenclose%
Penguins are 10th overall at 52.0%
Canadiens are 23rd overall at 46.9%
Even Strength Save Percentage
The Penguins are really struggling in this department with an EVSV% of .913%. That is good for 26th overall in the league. Marc Andre Fleury is currently at .919%.
The Canadiens have received much better goaltending this year as they are tied for 7th overall with .928%. Carey Price leads the way with an EVSV% of .930%.
Power Play
The Penguins are still ranked 1st overall at 24.2% but that ranking won’t last if they continue to throw up goose eggs on the power play. The power play looked rusty and out of synch against the lowly Panthers penalty kill.
It will be up to Kris Letang to quarterback a quality power play in the near future or else he may find himself losing that role again to Paul Martin. Personally I believe it should be Paul Martin’s job to lose, I think he does a better job of smartly distributing the puck. The Canadiens have the 9th ranked power play at 19.6%
Penalty Kill
The Penguins PK unit is still humming along and they remain the best in the league at 87.9%
The Canadiens also employ a quality PK unit. They are ranked 4th overall at 85.6%
Thanks for reading!
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