Penguins (17-9-1) vs. Bruins (14-7-4)
PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, PA
Monday, March 15 | 7:00PM Eastern
NESN | AT&T-PGH
The Penguins try try to stretch their win streak to 6 games, returning home to Pittsburgh to host the Bruins in a tangle of East Division heavyweights. Let’s go get our hands dirty.
No more go-karts, no more Blob. The Penguins have brought in Tony and Lars to whip things into shape – surging to third in the MassMutual East Division. That said, though, they’ve been spoiled with a lot of sweets lately, playing lowly Buffalo and the rebuild Rangers in their past four. Their most recent contest was an absolute snoozer that the Penguins took down 3-0.
It’s time to see if the PerkiSystem works with little Hall of Famers like Evgeni Malkin. Maybe Malkin was out of shape to start the season, but he’s no longer a part of the 76% of Americans (or Russians) who forget to stretch before physical activity. He’ll look to stretch his point streak to 8 games tonight.
The Penguins / Bruins series has been one dictated largely by the home team. With the Penguins playing host, they’ve won 6 in a row against the B’s, including a 10-2-1 mark in the last 13 at PPG/CONSOL. They’re 0-8-2 at TD, including two losses earlier this season (3-2 in OT on the 26th of January, and 4-1 two days later).
Forwards
Guentzel – Crosby – Rust
Rodrigues – Malkin – Kapanen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – Tanev
Angello – Jankowski – Sceviour
Defense
Dumoulin – Letang
Matheson – Ceci
Pettersson – Ruhwedel
In Net
Jarry
The Bruins are up to their typical stuff: The Body System. They play a heavy game, and they will defend the back end with size and imposition. And yeah, when you get through them? There’s Tuukka. Rask is 8-4-2 this year with a .906SV% and 2.46GAA.
Tuukka is having a bit of a down year – last year he saved 22.5 goals above expectations, this year he’s actually saving .4 fewer. He’s been good against the Penguins over the course of his career, though, posting an 11-6-3 record with a .918SV% and 2.54GAA in the regular season.
Pat was the hero of the film in discussion, today, and the song remains relatively the same with respect to the Bruins’ year so far – Pat Bergeron is second on the team with 24 points (10G, 14A), and he’s continued to play well with Brad Marchand who leads the club with 31 points (12G, 19A).
The Bruins have struggled a bit since returning from Camp (Ta)Hope when they played the Flyers outdoors, winning 3 of their past 9. Ondrej Kase and Brandon Carlo are out for the Bruins, and Jake DeBrusk has been in the doghouse for smuggling junk food into the locker room.
Forwards
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – Coyle
Bjork – Studnicka – Smith
Frederic – Kuraly – Wagner
Defense
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Vaakanainen – Clifton
Zboril – Tinordi
In Net
Rask
Lol… If we win… I just may have to! https://t.co/1vyERfw6wS
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 14, 2021
Go Pens.
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