In what will be the first of three meetings in an 11 day stretch, the Pittsburgh Penguins welcome the Montreal Canadiens to PPG Paints Arena later this evening in the second game of their current five game homestand. The Penguins are in need of a big bounce back game, coming off two straight games that saw them surrender late leads before ultimately falling in a shootout. This game will also serve as an appetizer before the teams meet again next weekend for a home-and-home series.
Puck drop for tonight’s
game is set for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh.
Pens Points…
Sidney Crosby is on the cusp of surpassing Mario Lemieux for most points in Penguins franchise history and ninth overall in NHL history. While it’s inevitable that Crosby reaches Lemieux in the near future, it wasn’t always a sure thing he was going to reach this milestone. [Pensburgh]
Just two games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last week, both against their Commonwealth counterparts Lehigh Valley and Hershey. When the dust settled , the Baby Pens came on on top of both in-state rivalries to sweep the weekend pair. [Pensburgh]
A slow start to the season had fans sour on Tommy Novak, but his recent play on the ice is showing why the Penguins were so high on him when they acquired him last season. Novak is playing a regular top six role and he’s starting to find a more consistent scoring touch. [Trib Live]
Sam Poulin was recalled by the Penguins on Tuesday but now he’s headed back to the minors since his services will no longer be needed for the time being. Poulin was a healthy scratch in the Penguins loss to the Ducks on Monday night. [Trib Live]
Everything that transpired late in the game on Monday that cost the Penguins a precious two points could have been easily avoided. Rather than throw a strong defensive partner on the ice with Erik Karlsson in the dying seconds, Dan Muse went with the Letang-Karlsson pairing instead. [The Athletic $$]
Not only are the Penguins playing the youth, head coach Dan Muse has been pairing them on the third line for most of the season. That current iteration of Koivunen-Kindel-McGroarty has been lightning other teams up and it’s time to give them more ice time as a reward. [The Hockey News]
NHL News and Notes…
Despite all the excitement surrounding the NHL’s return to the Olympics coming up, there still remains a chance players will not participate as construction on the hockey arena and its playing surface are not complete and perhaps not up to NHL standards as agreed upon. [CBC]
No one is happy with the state of NHL officiating at the moment, especially head coaches who are becoming increasingly vocal about not only the one ice officials, but are taking shots at the league replay system which they find to be inconsistent at best. [Sports Illustrated]
