The Penguins will be back in action tonight against the San Jose Sharks. They’ll need a bounce back game after Saturday’s feeble effort against the Kings. Winning would give the Penguins six points out of a possible eight in their last four games. With one of the opponents being the Colorado Avalanche it isn’t a bad haul. Taking four out of eight? That would be a very disappointing result.

Heading into tonight’s game it looks like the Penguins will be bolstered by a return of one of their most important players. Tristan Jarry practiced in full yesterday during an extended practice. He had no restrictions and is likely to start tonight. Considering how the goaltending goes when he is out this is a huge boost.

Sullivan said there's a possibility that Jarry could play in San Jose. "Right now, his status is day-to-day. When he gets in more of the game-real practices like he did today, it just prepares him that much more. We'll see how he responds, and make decisions accordingly."

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) February 13, 2023

At the beginning of the season it had a nostalgic look to the 5v5 points leaderboard. It was Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson tied for the lead. Months later, one of them is still in the lead. It is Erik Karlsson who is having an unreal season. Karlsson has 47 5v5 points on the year. It is seven clear of second place Elias Pettersson. Sid is still having a tremendous year at age 35. He’s now 11th in 5v5 points at 35. To put into perspective how well Crosby has been producing at 5v5 he has a 2.67 points per 60 while Connor McDavid is at 2.57. Not bad company to keep.

While Sidney Crosby will be a Penguin for the foreseeable future, any game might be Karlsson’s last with the Sharks. His amazing renascence has turned what was a very unpalatable contract into something teams are way more willing to work with. Erik Karlsson is back to being an elite defenseman and he is in demand.

Timo Meier is another excellent player on the trade block. There will be plenty of suitors and plenty of quality offers for him. The Penguins might not be the favorites for such a player, but they could put together a competitive offer if they had a pulse in the front office. Weirdly enough, the Penguins did hire an executive who does value star players and the importance of collecting them. His name is Brian Burke. No word on what he actually does for the team, though.

There’s enough salary coming off the books to give Meier an extension. If the first round picks in the next couple of years and Owen Pickering turn into anything close to Timo Meier it would be beating the odds by quite a bit.

Here were the line rushes from yesterday

Friedman is the only player missing from Penguins practice. Jarry and Rutta are taking part. Here is the workflow:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
McGinn-Carter-Kapanen
Poehling-Blueger-Archibald

Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Petry
Joseph-Ruhwedel
O’Connor-Rutta

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) February 13, 2023

Geno gonna Geno

Us: "What was it like meeting Steph Curry?"
Geno: "Steph Curry met me!"

😂😂😂 https://t.co/xTG3KnXaL3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 14, 2023

Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 26 Comments » Post New Comment

» My thoughts on Penguins thoughts

» It's their fault

» Still alive, for now

» Going to need some help now

» Penguins giveth Penguins taketh away