PITTSBURGH (49-19-11) VS NEW JERSEY (28-37-14)
PRUDENTIAL CENTER. NEWARK, NJ
7:00 PM EST. ROOT SPORTS
The Penguins take their show on the road to finish up what has been one of the more interesting regular seasons of the Crosby era. After the completion of the next 3 games it has been advised that the Penguins take one last look at their Stanley Cup banner before concluding their season. As you’ve heard by now the Penguins announced that Kris Letang is possibly out until October with a herniated disc in his neck that requires surgery. Obviously we wish Letang a smooth recovery with no other setbacks. Following the news everyone decided to say the Penguins were done. Rob Rossi went with a straight “no” to the question “can the Penguins still repeat,” Mark Madden said “I don’t think so,” and Mike Milbury said the Penguins won’t get out of the first round.
I know it is easy to jump on your first feeling when hit with bad news, but I also know that I was just like everyone else last year and said the Penguins didn’t have a chance to make the playoffs in January. I’m not going to say the losing Kris Letang doesn’t significantly hurt the Penguins chances, but I will tell you they were prepared and have been preparing for it. This is all breaking news to us because the media just got ahold of the information. The Penguins have known that it was a possibility. Mike Sullivan has definitely sat this team down sometime in February and said look this might happen and it isn’t an excuse. The team is going to get Olli Maatta and Trevor Daley back, and should’ve built the confidence in Chad Ruhwedel by this point.
I’m not saying the Penguins are fine without Letang, but I am saying that everyone doubting them is exactly what they need and probably want. Mike Sullivan plays mind games like no Penguins coach in recent memory, he will be using this as fuel to light under every single player. You should’ve learned your lesson last year but if you haven’t I will say it again, don’t bet against these Penguins. It’s easy to say “nah they’re done” and it’s a hell of a lot harder to believe, I get that, but the road to the cup is a long and curvy one, and who the favorite is to win it during game 80 of the regular season rarely pans out.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:
Yeah there is actually a game today, but it’s against the Devils so good luck hearing anything except for Letang talk. The Pens are 4-0 against NJ this season and are looking to get their 50th win of the season tonight. Bryan Rust is reportedly day-to-day after the Columbus game but there haven’t been any indications as to who will replace him. All injured players with the exception of Chris Kunitz are on the final road trip with the Pens. Olli Maatta practiced in a non-contact jersey yesterday and Trevor Daley was in a regular jersey. Going off of Sullivan’s comments yesterday it doesn’t sound like Malkin is going to play another game in the regular season, but that could be exactly what he wants us to think and he’ll casually slide the Russian in to one of these games, who knows. What are the damn odds that the Penguins will be playing against a healthy Beau Bennett in April?
WHO TO WATCH:
FOR NEW JERSEY: TAYLOR HALL
When Ray Shero went and snagged Hall from the Oilers people started whispering that Ray Shero was up to his old tricks again. The Devils have 10 picks in the first 6 rounds of this years draft so maybe Shero learned a lesson or two about keeping picks. The transition to New Jersey for Hall hasn’t paid the immediate difference everyone was thinking it would but he has managed to put up 19 goals and 33 assists for 52 points in 69 nice games. His 0.71 points per game this season is well below is career average of 0.84, but he’s also playing on the Devils. In part of their rebuild to relevancy Hall should play a crucial part but the Devils are going to need the former number 1 overall to start producing in the 70-80 points per season range.
FOR PITTSBURGH: PATRIC HORNQVIST
This is more of a Hornqvist appreciation spot than anything else. Last game Hornqvist notched his 20th goal of the season which puts him at a perfect 7 for 7 in 20 goal seasons (excluding the lockout season of 48 games). Hornqvist is one of those players that you tend to forget about but is immediately missed once he is gone. Just look at his career numbers, the definition of consistency, you can bank on Hornqvist going 20 goals and 25ish assists:
The second line of Rust-Malkin-Hornqvist (if that is what Sullivan rolls with) is going to be a hard line for most teams to defend, between the speed of Rust and Malkin and the grit of Hornqvist.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Getting excited for a game in April against the Devils is about the same as trying to jerk off to a picture of a tractor (unless you’re Boone Jenner). The Penguins are still fighting for home ice so I would be surprised to see anything less than a full effort tonight, but it is also extremely easy to play down to your competition at this point in the season. The biggest thing for the Penguins is to escape the shithole of New Jersey without any injuries for the love of God.
With this being the final weekday regular season game it is my last regular season gameday post here. I want to thank Rich Miller for giving me this opportunity, I still can’t believe he trusted me with this job just based on my “writing” at pens.hockey, sucker. I especially want to thank all of you that have read the blog throughout the year, hopefully I wasn’t complete trash the whole time. It’s been a great pleasure adding to thepensblog tradition this season and hopefully we can continue to grow in the future. Thanks again for the support, and as always let’s go Pens.
-Rad (@admaryland)
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