Penguins @ Jets
Bell MTS Place – Winnipeg, MB
8:00PM Eastern – AT&TSN | TSN3
The Penguins take to the West again, looking to build on the first sniff of momentum they’ve had in nearly a month as they trek to Winnipeg to take on Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, and Bennie and the Jets.
This is one of the loudest arenas in the league and one of the most fun “barns” to see. It’s in Winnipeg, we actually have unconfirmed reports that the game may be taking place in an actual barn.
The Penguins got a whale of a performance from the Guentzel-Crosby-Simon “Electric Boogaloo” line (@MarkMadden of marginalhockeyblog.com pls credit) on Saturday evening, with Guentzel netting a hat trick to lead the Penguins to a 4-2 victory over Tortorella and his Blue Jackets.
It’s certainly no coincidence that the return of Sidney Crosby has led to a resurgence for Guentzel, and by degrees, the Penguins, who have collected points in 4 straight games for the first time since October 27.
Casey DeSmith has won his past two starts, allowing 3 goals on 61 shots.
DeSmith: “We’re playing the right way. Everyone’s buying in. Working the puck down low in the offensive zone, taking responsibility in the defensive zone, all those little things that go a long way. It's showing in our results.” pic.twitter.com/f5S9SFm5CW
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 25, 2018
Tonight will be Kris Letang’s 704th game with the Penguins, passing Brooks Orpik for the most games played by a Penguins defenseman.
Patric Hornqvist remains out with a concussion, while Derek Grant was in a non-contact jersey for practice yesterday in Cranberry.
Pearson – Malkin – Kessel
Aston-Reese – Brassard – Rust
Wilson – Sheahan – Sprong
Letang – Dumoulin
Maatta – Riikola
Johnson – OhSexyBack
The Jets had a breakthrough season last year, making the Western Conference Final before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights. They’ve capitalized on the development of a slew of early draft picks and have built a formidable roster from top to bottom, with Connor Hellebuyck proving to be an elite NHL goaltender along the way. The 2017-18 Vezina nominee has slipped a bit, posting a .910SV% with a 2.91GAA through the first quarter of the 2018-19 campaign.
Patrik Laine leads the league in goals with 19 after last week, where he posted 11 goals in 4 games including a 5-goal outburst on Saturday against the Blues. He did so on 5 shots. That’s nearly a 100% shooting percentage. Does not seem sustainable. He’s… heating up.
So to recap on Patrik Laine:
– 14 goals in November
– Three hat tricks in November
– Two hat tricks this week
– 10 goals in his past four games
– 18 goals on the season (Tied for NHL lead)#NHLJets— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) November 25, 2018
Watch out for Adam Lowry. He’s the centre the Penguins should have traded for when they got Riley Sheahan an enormous pain in the ass for the Penguins every time these two teams match up.
Ehlers – Schiefele – Wheeler
Connor – Little – Laine
Perreault – Lowry – Tanev
Lemieux – Roslovic – Petan
Morrissey – Trouba
Chiarot – Byfuglien
Morrow – Myers
Hellebuyck
Hey, Blonde Ambition 2. Don’t dry accelerate that Jet Ski.
Go Pens.
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