Gameday 33: Penguins vs. Ducks

Penguins vs. Ducks

PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA

7:00PM Eastern – AT&TSN | NHLN

The Penguins look to close their 3-game home stand with a sweep as they play host to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Monday night. They are hosting a former fourth liner they recently traded (allegedly) for Marcus Pettersson aka Puff. Apparently Spraniel Dong or something like that was his name but wolves don’t worry themselves with the opinions of sheeple.

The Penguins got past Boston and Los Angeles in a pair of games this weekend, each of which boasted big shorthanded tallies from Zach Aston-SuddenlyGoodAgain-Reese and Matt Suddenly-Not-Injured-and-Terrible-as-Balls Cullen.

There were some interesting changes to the Penguins’ workflow this morning and we definitely don’t want to jinx it because if we tell you that Jack Johnson was skating with the extras and Letang was in his normal spot and just awaiting medical clearance to play, that definitely means that Letang won’t be able to play and that we’ll be stuck with Jack Fucking Johnson on the top pairing with Brian Dumoulin.

Fuck it. Let’s gooooooo

https://twitter.com/G_Off817/status/1074695267146977280

Guentzel – Crosby – Rust

Aston-Reese – Malkin – Kessel

Pearson – Brassard – Sheahan

Grant – Cullen – Wilson

Dumoulin – Letang

Puff – Oleksiak

Maatta – Riikola

The Smith

Puff gets the twirl against his old club.

The Ducks have been decent this year (evergreen platitude) in sum, posting an 18-11-5 record good for 41 points and a tie with San Jose for the 3rd spot in the Pacific Division. There’s a ton of parity this year (evergreen platitude) in both conferences, so they sit just five points from being in 6th in the Pacific.

Good Hockey Boy Johnny Gibson from the fabled hallowed grounds of Baldwin Whitehall gets the nod between the pipes. He’s been solid this year, going 14-9-4 with a .927SV% and a 2.54GAA in 28 appearances with the waterfowl. His career against the Penguins hasn’t been so brilliant, though, going 3-3-0 with an .889SV% and a 3.73GAA.

The Ducks have been led in scoring by Ryan Getzlaf (8G+18A for 26P) and Pontus Aberg, which is definitely not a Norwegian Death Metal Band and is totally a hockey player. He’s got 10G and 7A for 17 points. The Ducks have found their success with a relatively defensive posture; their 2.53 G/GP is third-worst in the league, better only than the Coyotes and Kings. Their 2.82 GA/GP is tied for 6th best in the league.

Aberg – Getzlaf – Kase

Cogliano – Kesler – Silfverberg

Ritchie – Henrique – Sprong

Sherwood – Rowney – Gibbons

Lindholm – Montour

Larsson – Manson

Mahura – Dotchin

Gibson

Henrique is a Penguin-killer so him being on Sprong’s line almost guarantees that Spraniel will get himself a goal tonight. Former Penguins Carter Rowney and Brian Gibbons suit up against their old squad. No, we haven’t repressed the memories of the Brian Gibbons era. This is an increment of time similar to a Willenium. Short but largely forgettable.

Get that money.

Go Pens.