The Penguins are coming off a disappointing loss Wednesday at the hands of the Dallas Stars. The Pens did not play a good game as they were outhustled, outplayed, and probably outcoached. The Ducks are coming off 3-2 win vs Tampa Bay on Wednesday. That outcome left Anaheim with a 5-7-1 record good for 4th place in the Pacific division of the Western conference. The Penguins 6-6-1 and 3rd place in the Atlantic. Heres some statistic breakdowns....
The Ducks have a lot of scoring potential but it has not shown in the scores as of yet. They are currently 22nd in the league in goals per game with 2.5. The Penguins are 12th with 2.8. The Ducks have been giving up quite a bit. They rank 25th with a 3.3 GAA. The Pens have been a little stingier, ranking 13th with 2.5GAA. The Ducks do alot of their scoring on the power play and rank 6th in the league at 23.4%. We all know the Penguins troubles in this area. They are currently in an 0-27 slump, which has dropped them to 12.1% and 26th in the league. As for penalty kill, Anaheim is vulnerable, killing off 80.3% of power plays which ranks 22nd. The Penguins are gonna need good penalty killing tonight and have gotten it most of the year. They kill 86.2% and are 10th in the league.
Despite the Ducks record, they have plenty of good talented players. Among the leaders are Ryan Getzlaf. He leads the team with 16 points including 5 goals. Teemu Salanne is still going strong. Tonights game will be his 1200th in the NHL. He leads the team with 6 goals and has 8 assists to go along. Another player to look out for is Corey Perry. He is a feisty winger and has 13 points on the season. He also leads the team in penalty minutes.
The probable goaltenders for tonight will be Marc Andre Fleury for the Pens and Jonas Hiller for the Ducks. Hiller has had some issues this year. He has posted a 4-5-1 record with a 2.99 GAA and a .918 save%.
The Ducks play a spirited game. They take it to opponents and are near the top of the league in penalty minutes. The game could resemble the Stars game a bit, especially if the Ducks feel they can get the Pens off their game. Here are some Pros and Cons....
PROS:
- I keep going back to this, but at some point, the Penguins need to have that fire and desire. The humiliating loss to Dallas has to serve as motivation. They have to come out strong and set a tone, both physically and performance wise. I look for them to do this.
- Matt Cooke has been a force against the Ducks. He has scored 6 goals in 6 games vs this team. Sometimes certain teams bring out the best in a player. Maybe its luck or coincidence, but lets hope Cooke can keep up this production
CONS:
- The Ducks play a similar style to the Stars and we saw how that ended. The Ducks, especially seeing how the Stars were able to work it, will no doubt come out and try to disrupt the Penguins and their stars. If it comes in the form of stupid penalties, then good, but if they can pull the Pens from their game, it may be another long night.
- Marc Andre Fleury...I hate to include him in the cons, but until he puts a little streak together, he has to be listed a liability. At some point I know he will turn it around. Maybe tonight can be his break out game.
No word yet on the lines for tonight. Pascal Dupuis is expected to be back so I imagine we will see Crosby, Kunitz, and Dupuis back on top. From there who knows. I'll update as soon as the info comes out. It will probably be a little later today since the Pens are on the West Coast and practice will start later than we are used to
Pitts Pens Homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment