Pittsburgh Vs. Anaheim
The Penguins are looking to bounce back in a big way following Wednesday's shaky 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. Pittsburgh hits the West Coast, traveling to Anaheim Friday night for a matchup against the Ducks.
Game Time- 10:00. TV- FSN Pittsburgh
The Lineup
Forwards:
Winger Pascal Dupuis will return to the lineup after missing Wednesday's affair against Dallas due to the birth of his fourth child. All is well with the Dupuis family and he is ready to hit the ice once again.
Projected Forward Lines:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Cooke-Malkin-Comrie
Talbot-Letestu-Asham
Rupp-Adams-Godard-Kennedy
One thing that jumps out at me concerning these line combinations is the demotion of Tyler Kennedy to the fourth line. Kennedy scored Wednesday against Dallas and was one of only a few players who skated a decent game.
Mike Comrie, still searching for his first goal as a Penguin, gets another chance on the second line, this time playing wing alongside Evgeni Malkin, instead of center. Kennedy may be able to bring more of a spark to this line on the right side with the way he's playing at this point. You can say what you want about his abilities, but you can never doubt his desire or energy, while Comrie has appeared less tenacious.
Malkin had a rough Wednesday night against Dallas, being held off the scoresheet and finishing a minus-2. He's now a minus-4 on the year with only nine points, not where Geno wants to be at this point in the season.
The first line goes back to business as usual with the return of Dupuis. Sidney Crosby, like Malkin, was held scoreless against Dallas and finished a minus-2. The captain tried to spark something by dropping the gloves, but nothing was going the Penguins' way against the Stars.
Moving to the third line, Max Talbot has points in two-straight games, but center Mark Letestu has not registered a point in six games after starting the season red hot. Letestu is still trying to make a good name for himself while center Jordan Staal recovers from a broken hand.
Defense:
The Penguins are now sporting a healthy defense, so there should be no excuses on the back end. Zbynek Michalek will play his second game since returning from a shoulder injury.
Projected Defensive Pairs:
Letang-Martin
Engelland-Orpik
Michalek-Goligoski (Lovejoy)
If head coach Dan Bylsma decides to scratch Ben Lovejoy once again, we could see the pair of Deryk Engelland and Brooks Orpik together. If Engellend is scratched, I would imagine Ben Lovejoy would be paired with Alex Goligoski. But I would expect to see the pairing of Orpik and Zbynek Michalek pretty soon, possibly tonight. Nothing is certain with these defensive pairs.
High scoring defenders Goligoski and Paul Martin have cooled down after a quick start to the year. Goligoski has only one point in six games, while Martin is scoreless in six. It would be nice to see these two offensively-capable defensemen get back on the scoresheet with some regularity.
Goaltending:
We found out that Brent Johnson is human after all, as the veteran netminder was scored on five times (one penalty shot) in Dallas. The team as a whole played awful, but this was still Johnson worst performance of the year after putting up some sterling numbers.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to get the start in Anaheim and this is a glorious opportunity at redemption. The whole team is looking to bounce back from the garbage game against the Stars. Fleury could be the benefactor of some tight play from the team in front of him. If he sticks to his guns and plays a solid game he should look like a million bucks compared to Wednesday's forgettable outing.
Return to Power-Play Sanity
The Penguins' Jason Seidling is in Anaheim with the team and made this observation of the power play during Friday's morning skate:
"The Penguins are currently practicing their power play at Honda Center. One thing I'm noticing here today, and I'll be sure to check on this following the skate, is that it seems as if Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are doing more rotating through the rover position. Alex Goligoski had manned this spot the past few weeks, but he looks to be back along the blue line next to Kris Letang."
I like what I hear from Mr. Seidling. At this point, I think that Letang, Goligoski and Martin should be the point guys. Goligoski should be able to get more comfortable at that point position. Having a defenseman as a "rover" never seemed to suit this team.
By allowing Crosby and Malkin both to "rove" they can rotate in and out of the right-side, one-time spot, instead of rotating up to the point and back down. The team needs to pass up and down to spread out the penalty killers, not wildly move Malkin up and down while having Goligoski roam wherever.
Malkin should see some more one-time opportunities from the right side, while Crosby will be able to set up shop down below the goal line to spread things out. I hoping to see more quality puck movement and less player movement. Keep things simple and the talent will get things done. Complicate things and...well we've seen that so far this year.
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