Pittsburgh Penguins vs Dallas Stars Pros and Cons

I'm running a little short on time, so I'll jump to the point...

The Pens play at Dallas tonight. Gametime at 8:30 PM EST. The Stars come into the game with a 6-4-0 record, good for 2nd place in the Pacific division of the Western Conference. This is the 1st game of a 3 game roadtrip for the Pens that also have them going to Anaheim and Phoenix.

The Stars began the year going 4-0, but have struggled lately going 2-4 in last 6 games. They are coming off a win, 4-0, against Buffalo last Saturday. Their statistics are not all that great as far as team rankings go. They average 3.0 goals per game, which does rank 9th in the league. The Pens are ranked 11th with 2.9 goals a game. However, the Stars are giving up 2.7 goals(16th overall) compared to the Pens 2.3(7th overall). The Stars penalty kill has been downright awful, killing only 68.4% of man disadvantages. This puts them dead last in the league. The Penguins are faring better at 84.9%(11th overall). Finally the Stars power play is in the bottom half of the league(19th) with a 14% rate. Of course, this is better than the Pens 12.9%.

The Stars feature some good young players who are up and comers. That group is led by forwards James Neal, Loui Erikson, and Jamie Benn.They also feature some key veterans such as Brendan Morrow and Brad Richards. In goal, the Stars main guy has been Kari Lehtonen. He is backed up by Andrew Raycroft. Lehtonens stats on the year are 5-4-0 with a 2.93GAA and .908 save %.


All injured players for the Pens, with the exception of Jordan Staal are expected to play. This includes Malkin, Goligoski, Letang, and the return of Michalek. Pascal Dupuis will not play due to the birth of his child.

The Stars are healthy. They have no known injured players on their roster. I'd love to be able to say that about the Pens!

Here are tonights Pros and Cons


PROS: 

• The Pens are coming off a solid effort win against Carolina. They simplified their game and looked to get back to basics. They had solid goaltending and good fundamentals. Hopefully they carry that success into tonights game
• The Pens have some dinged up players but they are getting the return of Zbynek Michalek. He may have some rust but he is a big addition to have back
• The Pens are expected to have Brent Johnson in goal tonight. Right now, anytime you have him in there has to be seen as a Pro. He is just playing too strong and looking too good not to have confidence in him. 
• The Stars power play has been downright awful this year. Could this be what the Pens need to spark their power play? I hope so

CONS:

• As mentioned above, the Stars have a pretty good mix of youth and experience. They have speed and some grit. I'm sure they will be using this game as a "measuring stick" to see just how far along they are.

So lets see what team shows up tonight. Both teams have had a long off stretch. They should both be rested although Pittsburgh is more banged up. Should be a good one!






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