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Penguins welcome back Kris Letang

March 19, 2019, 2:23 PM ET [282 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Penguins will be a better team tonight than they were on Sunday night when they faced the Flyers. Kris Letang is a game-time decision and with few exceptions that means the player is good to go. Letang was having a Norris finalist caliber season before the neck injury he sustained in the Stadium Series game. This will help push Zach Trotman out of the lineup and thus make the Penguins a better team. Here’s the look at the defense tonight.

Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Schultz
Pettersson-Gudbranson

We have a legitimate top pair for the first time in a while. This will likely propel the Crosby line to do great things if we look at past usage from this year. Justin Schultz will probably continue to struggle. It would be nice to see an extended sample away from Johnson to see if this is a Schultz problem or yet another defenseman to drown with Johnson. Marcus Pettersson and Erik Gudbranson have been pretty decent (mostly Gudbranson) and if they are used like a bottom pair I don’t see that changing.

Olli Maatta has made the road trip. He is getting closer to returning to the lineup. Bad news for Marcus Pettersson. Jack Johnson is made of Teflon. He’s not coming out. A best case scenario is the Penguins doing exactly what the Penguins called out the Blue Jackets for last year when they finally scratched him for the playoffs. Don’t hold your breath.

As far as the first power play it looks like Letang will be back on it. He will join Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel, and Patric Hornqvist. I don’t have an issue with the personnel. They just need to find their 2v1’s. Letang should help immensely on the breakout.

The forwards remain the same. Teddy Blueger will continue to center Phil Kessel and Bryan Rust. The third line will remain the same. I have no issues with giving this another look considering how well the third line has played. The fourth line is what it is. A below average minimally played line used just to rest the others.

Jordan Staal registered his 500th point the other night. He should probably be closer to 600, but his quality of teammate in Carolina has been pretty bad considering he left the Penguins to be in a top six role. Staal remains one of the elite defensive forwards in the game who has not lived up to offensive potential. Carolina getting him back and adding Nino Niederreiter has been a great thing for their success. They are trending in the right direction as long as the goaltending holds.

Thanks for reading!
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