Gameday 34: Penguins at Flames

Penguins at Flames

Scotiabank Saddledome | Calgary, AB

9:00PM Eastern | ESPN+ | AT&TSN-PT | Sportsnet West

Tonight, the Penguins hit the road to embark on the tedious and annoying trek across western Canada, starting in Calgary, with three games that no one on the East Coast will possibly stay awake to finish.

https://twitter.com/infinite_scream/status/1206802694146580480

That, too, about sums it up.

The Penguins come into this matchup winners of their last two, toppling the Kings on Saturday night and shutting out the lowly, cowardly Blue Jackets two nights earlier.  They’re also 7-3-0 in their last 10, which is certainly a mix of both “good” and “pretty good.”

Bryan Rust has been The Dude as of late, potting 4 goals and 5 assists in his last 6 outings.

Rust isn’t feeling well. Stayed at hotel. Malkin and Rust will be game-time decisions tomorrow v Flames, per HC Sullivan -SK

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 16, 2019

Because of goddamn course.

One would suspect, however, that Malkin will be back in the lineup tonight after having missed the last two with an illness.  He slotted back into his 1C role at practice and worked with the top powerplay unit. alongside Letang, McCann, Galchenyuk, and Guentzel.

Speaking of the powerplay, it’s clicking at 16.8% for the season, 22nd best in the league.  However, over the last month, they’ve scored 8 goals on 40 chances, good for 13th best at 20%.  Given that Calgary has been shorthanded 117 times this season (7th most in the league), the Penguins PP may have some chances to expand on that run.

Guentzel – Malkin – Simon (Rust)

ZAR – McCann – Kahun

Galchenyuk – Blueger – Simon

Galchenyuk – Lafferty – Noesen

Letang – Marino

Johnson – Schultz

Pettersson – Ruhwedel

Jarry

Flames

Calgary, since the resignation of their shithead racist head coach, has been firing on all cylinders, going 8-1-1 in their last 10.  They’re 10-4-2 at home this season as well.

Since Peters went away, Calgary’s big guns have come to play.  Sean Monahan has 4G-5A-9P in his last 8.  Johnny Gaudreau has netter 4G-2A in that span as well.

Despite the Flames being shorthanded a decent amount, their PK has been up to the task, killing off 83.8% of the penalties they face (7th best).  However, since the start of December, they’ve been operating at 76.2% (23rd).  In other words, they can be got at tonight with the man-advantage and, spoiler alert, at 5v5.

Gaudreau – Monahan – Backlund

Tkachuk – Lindholm – Mangiapane

Lucic – Ryan – Dube

Rieder – Jankowski – Frolik

Giordano – Brodie

Hanifin – Hamonic

Kylington – Andersson

Rittich

Stacked up side-by-side on the season at 5v5, these two teams generate a similar number of scoring chances (edge to the Flames) and high danger chances (edge to the Penguins).

But that’s where the similarities end.

Because when it comes to finishing those opportunities, the Penguins have simple done it.  The Flames have not.

These two squads diverge on the defensive side of the puck, too.

The Penguins, as we’ve seen all season, are demons at smothering their opposition.  Compared to the Flames, they shut it all down, while the Flames are pretty average on that side of the puck.

We see this, too, when looking at the expected goals rates.  The Penguins and Flames are that far off in terms of their generation, but the Penguins are far and away the better team at suppressing quality looks against.

On paper, give the edge to the Pens tonight, fam.

Put out the Flames.

Go Pens.