Recently the Penguins were hotter than hot and looked unstoppable during their 12 game winning streak.Before and after that 12 game streak, star Center Sidney Crosby provided the offensive electricity for his teams success with a 25 game point streak of his own. The streaks all finally came to an end against the Islanders before the Winter Classic and since then the Penguins are 1-1-1 in their last 3 games to start the new year. Crosby has only tallied one assist in these 3 games, and is now out for up to a week with a "mild" Concussion. Matt Cooke also missed the game against Montreal but will play tonight against the Wild.
Coach Bylsma and Crosby discussed this issue today, Bylsma, during the press conference went on to say: "Post Winter Classic game he had neck symptoms, he did not have concussion symptoms. After the Tampa Bay game he was not feeling right, per doctors orders if he felt the same he needed to be evaluated." It's been said recently that the Penguins knowingly sent Sid out against Tampa Bay with his concussion, Bylsma had this to say; "There isn't a time, or a person that we would put onto the ice who is showing symptoms of a concussion."
The team is getting a lot of help from it's grinders and role players recently including help from the defensive corp in Goligoski and Letang. Goligoski almost recorded his own hat trick in the game against Tampa Bay but his chance was a deflection, Goligoski does however have 5 points in the past 2 games, and was moved up to the top line against Tampa Bay. The team will need to steel its reserve to face a Minnesota Wild team that is surging, without Sidney Crosby.
The Minnesota Wild are going to scheme a little bit differently now that they don't have to worry about #87 being on the ice. They aren't out of the woods yet in terms of superstars they have to deal with however as the second line featuring a newly healthy Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin who is starting to heat up again. Including the only goal in the Winter Classic for the Penguins, Malkin has 2 goals in the previous 3 games with an astonishing goal that came within the first 7 seconds of the opening puck drop against Tampa Bay, he was held scoreless against Montreal. Jordan Staal has yet to record a point this season in the 3 games he has been back.
Bylsma said of Jordan Staal's recent play: "Right from the first shift he had on the ice at the Winter Classic and penalty kill-wise, there wasn’t rust in the mental part of his game and that’s been really good. I thought his best period was the first period of the Winter Classic. You could see in Montreal in a back-to-back situation that he didn’t have as much jump as you would expect. But we will see that later on." Jordan recorded the first Hit of the Winter Classic and went on to set up two very good scoring chances. PK wise Staal has been doing very well in that department since his return to the ice.
The Penguins haven't fared so well in their past 10 games, going 5-3-2 where as the Wild are 7-2-1 in their past 10 winning 3 in a row.
The Penguins Line up for tonight:
Kunitz-Letestu-Dupuis
Cooke-Staal-Malkin
Conner-Talbot-Kennedy
Rupp-Adams-Asham
Marc Andre Fleury will be between the pipes for the Penguins.
The Wild aren't without their own injury woes: Niklas Backstrom is still feeling the effects of a lower-body injury he suffered a few weeks ago. This normally would begin a down turn in play but their back-up Jose Theodore has been red hot winning the past three starts. He has however allowed 7 goals in those 3 games. 5 of which came against the Coyotes, who tallied 4 in the 3rd period alone trying to mount a comeback. Most recently however he snubbed the bruins by saving 35 of 36 shots faced.
Jose Theodore is 16-1-1-2 against the Penguins in his last 20 starts. It will be a challenge for the Penguins offense to get much by this goaltender tonight, who is seeing the puck as though it were a beach ball in recent games. Still though, the Penguins are second in the East in total goals scored at 136, behind Atlanta by only one goal(137).
Recently Todd Richards, Coach of the Minnesota Wild, expressed his disdain for the recognition his team has been receiving. "We don't get the respect we feel we deserve at times..." He then went on to say; "But there's only one way you get the respect. It's not given. You have to earn it. Without a question, we have to earn our stripes." The Wild are hungry for a W tonight and are going to come out swinging at Consol arena.
The Wild are 3-0 in their past three games and are 6-1-1 in the last 8 games away from Minnesota. Martin Havlat has 4 points in the last 5 games for the Wild. Minnesota is also 11-3-2 when forward Cal Clutterbuck tallies a point, so look for that to be a factor in tonight's game.
The Wild Line up for tonight:
Brunette-Koivu-Kobasew
Bouchard-Brodziak-Havlat
O’Sullivan-Cullen-Clutterbuck
Staubitz-Madden-Nystrom
Jose Theodore will be between the pipes for the Wild.
Stat tracker:
Even without league leading scorer Sidney Crosby (66pts), the Penguins still have Kris Letang at 36pts and Evgeni Malkin at 34 points, Chris Kunitz is close behind with 28pts, providing production for the team. Honorable mention to Alex Goligoski for his recent performances and Matt Cooke who has 8 goals himself so far this year and will be back in the line up tonight looking for a 9th.
Minnesota has two 35+ point scorers as well in Martin Havlat (36pts) and Mikko Koivu(35pts), Minnesota has 32 PPG's to Pittsburgh's 29, however has 307 giveaways to Pittsburgh's 292. Turnovers in the neutral zone could be key to a quick scoring opportunity for either team.
This is going to be must see hockey as the red hot Wild come to visit the Penguins at Consol Energy Center, puck drop is at 7:05 don't miss it!
What to watch for around the league:
The Vancouver Canucks are now 17-1-2 in their last 20 games after besting the Oilers 6-1 last night. Sitting atop their division, conference, and the rest of the league at 59pts.
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