Happy Wednesday Penguins fans and welcome to the latest edition of Big Dave's Pens Pregame. Tonight, our Penguins head to Tampa to continue the Eastern Conference Finals against the Lightning.
Puck drops on the action at 8:00pm tonight, but the Pregame is live now...
The "Big Dave's Gameday Jams" section continues to be taken over by @pensfan2259, and I love tonight's selection. It doesn't get more 90's than this and man, is it a classic song. It is "Mother," by Danzig. Enjoy it, mothhhhherrrrr!
The State of the Penguins
There's my favorite word again, making it's triumphant return to the Pregame. If you are a new follower, you missed the stretch run of the regular season where I often characterized the Penguins play coming down the stretch as them showing a ton of gumption. Monday night, the showed a ton of it again.
The Penguins were far from perfect on Monday night, but they found a way to win that game. Pittsburgh came out fast, and took a 2-0 lead before the midway mark of the period. However, they went into the locker room tied at two a piece and wondering what they needed to do to take out this injury plagued Tampa team.
The following forty minutes yielded a few chances for the Penguins, but a couple outstanding saves by Andrei Vasilevsky in the Tampa net and the Penguins shooting wide on the couple prime chances they got. In the end, the Penguins would need OT to determine the game, and once again, they broke the hearts of the away team fanbase.
There are a couple of things to take away from Monday's Game Two win to look for tonight in Game Three in Tampa.
Firstly, Sidney Crosby played really well in Game Two, including the OT game winner. Everyone was talking about how Sid had gone eight games without a goal; a conversation that continued throughout this game until he ended it in OT. Sid got his goal, but overall he played really well in Game Two. He did an excellent job in the faceoff circle against Tyler Johnson, and he created several great chances for his line and was stoned by Vasilevsky in the second period. I
think Game Two's OT winner will be the spark for Sidney, and if it is, that is huge for the Penguins.
Then you have Evgeni Malkin. Geno played really well in this game also, he just wasn't rewarded with the points. Malkin has now gone seven games without a goal, but he played a solid game and created several chances in Game Two. I think if he gets a few more shifts with the likes of Hagelin, Kessel or even Sid at even strength in Game Three, he may well bust through like Sid did in Game Two.
Finally, you have the play of Matt Murray. This will continued to be talked about until the Penguins either win the whole thing or they make a move. Hell, even then everyone will still talk about it. I personally haven't been over impressed by Murray's play thus far v. Tampa. He has let up a couple soft goals and hasn't been as sharp as he was earlier in these playoffs. Is it time to go back to Marc-Andre Fleury? I think they should have back in the Washington series. With the way Murray has played the last two games, the conversations will continue. Murray will be in there tonight, but he will need to find the lightning in the bottle again in my opinion.
As for tonight, the Penguins need to play with the same level of desperation they did in Game Two. They played the entire final 30 minutes of that game as if they were losing that game and needed a goal. This team plays much better when they play that way. It means they are using their speed and gumption to find a way. That's what they need to do tonight.
Gumption folks, good teams have it. The Penguins have it too.
Scouting the Enemy: tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning entered Game Two Monday night with a 1-0 series lead, and expecting the return of top-pair defenseman Anton Stralman to the lineup after nearly two months on the shelf. It should have been an added boost to their lineup.
However, the Lightning would still be without Steven Stamkos, as he continues treatment for blood clots. Vezina finalist Ben Bishop would miss the game after being stretchered off in Game One. And in warmups, it was released that they would be without winger Ryan Callahan, who was suffering from the flu. Tampa had the momentum, but adversity was rearing its ugly head again.
Tampa played well in Game Two, definitely deserving of a win. The one thing I think cost them in their Game Two loss was they sat back and let the Penguins come to them. They didn't seem to assert themselves as they did in Game One. Tampa seemed more content on not losing the game then they were on winning it. It almost worked for them, but it ultimately cost them in the end.
Tonight, Tampa will look to take the first game of their two game home stand. They should have Ryan Callahan back in the lineup, and there are rumors that Steven Stamkos is close to returning as well. One, if not both, of them would be a huge boost to this team.
Lightning Playoff Scoring Leaders:
- C Tyler Johnson - 13pts (4G-9A)
- RW Nikita Kucherov - 12pts (9G-3A)
- D Victor Hedman - 11pts (4G-7A)
- LW Jonathan Drouin - 11pts (3G-8A)
- C Alex Killorn - 10pts (4G-6A)
Injury Report:
- G Ben Bishop (lower-body) is considered day-to-day after being stretchered off during Game One Friday. Bishop reportedly has not structural damage to the knee according to the team, but his status remains unclear for tonight.
- C Steven Stamkos (blood clots) will be a game-time decision tonight. Stamkos had surgery to remove a blood clot from his arm near the end of March and was given a 1-3 month timetable. He has been skating with the team, even shedding the no-contact jersey of late, but only time will tell.
Projected Lines:
- Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
- Alex Killorn - Valtteri Filppula - Jonathan Drouin
- Cedric Paquette - Brian Boyle - Ryan Callahan
- JT Brown - Vladislav Namestnikov
Projected Pairs:
- Victor Hedman - Anton Stalman
- Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
- Matt Carle - Braydon Coburn - Slater Koekkoek
Andrei Vasilevsky will start in net for the Bolts tonight.
News & Notes From Around the Penguins
- No updates on F Beau Bennett, F Scott Wilson or F Kevin Porter
Penguins Playoff Scoring Leaders:
- RW Phil Kessel - 14pts (6G-8A)
- C Sidney Crosby - 12pts (4G-8A)
- C Nick Bonino - 11pts (2G-9A)
- C Evgeni Malkin - 9pts (3G-6A)
- RW Patric Hornqvist - 9pts (6G-3A)
Miscellaneous Notes:
- The Penguins have won their last three OT games in the playoffs, after dropping eight in a row prior to this streak.
- The Pens are 4-0 this post season when Matt Cullen scores a goal.
- C Sidney Crosby scored his first career playoff OT goal in Game Two. He is now 3rd on the Pens franchise scoring list for playoff goals.
- D Brian Dumoulin has assisted on two of the last three Penguin OT goals.
- RW Phil Kessel enters tonight's game on a four-game point streak.
#AskBigDave
I definitely think Sid was on a different level Monday night than he has been the last few game. Honestly, Sid was atrocious in Game One. There were instances when he just looked so frustrated that he gave up, though of course he never would.
Monday night however, he really looked good. He was skating hard, taking the body and creating chances out of literally nothing at points. The biggest thing for him would be getting off the schnide and getting that goal to break the funk. He got the goal, and a huge one of course. Now, it will be interesting to see whether it will be the catalyst to launch him into a point frenzy.
As for the "has he risen" part, tonight will be telling. It is hard to say he is completely back to being a scoring machine based on one goal, but I think we will get an idea tonight.
From Alex on the Tweety: "This Lightning dress code thing, isn't it bad sportsmanship and a violation of the 1st amendment?"
Alex, I find this whole "dress code" thing the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. You cannot ban someone from wearing the garb of the team they support because it isn't the home team. I am no lawyer, but to me it is a violation of my First Amendment rights. If I want to wear a Penguins jersey to the game on the road, I should not be banned from that establishment for it, as long as their is no profanity or inappropriate wordings. It is absolutely ridiculous the whole thing.
The reason Tampa has to do it is because they cannot fill their own arena. Florida is just not a hockey area, and in my opinion, they should NOT have two teams while places like Quebec City, Hartford or Seattle do not. Those places would be far better hockey towns than Tampa or St. Pete are now. And I think former Penguin Peter Taglianetti said it best in a tweet yesterday: "If pro teams want to stop people from wearing other teams jerseys, try winning more and do better job in front office, marketing team."
projected Lines & Pairs
- Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Patric Hornqvist
- Carl Hagelin - Nick Bonino - Phil Kessel
- Conor Sheary - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
- Eric Fehr - Matt Cullen - Tom Kuhnhackl
Pairs:
- Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
- Trevor Daley - Ben Lovejoy
- Ian Cole - Justin Schultz
Matt Murray will likely be the starter in net.
My 3 Keys to the game
2. Attack!: The Penguins need to make sure they continuously pressure the Tampa defense and netminder. The Penguins play in the first 10 minutes of Game Two, and last 30 minutes of the game were textbook Penguin hockey. They used their speed, aggressively forechecked and created turnovers which led to continuous offensive zone time. That is the way the Penguins need to play. They need to be on the attack the whole time. The Pens just play better that way.
3. Power Play: It really needs to start working. I don't know if Sullivan needs to consider changing up the formation or the personnel, but it has got to get on track and start potting goals. The Penguins have been lucky so far that they have gotten this far with those struggles and cannot have a sustained run without it.
My 3 Penguins to Watch
2. Carl Hagelin: I think the key to the Penguins play the last 30 minutes of Game Two was double shifting Carl Hagelin to play with Geno. Tonight, I want to see him get a few more shifts with Malkin as well. Hagelin is a key figure on this team, and his 200 foot game is a spark not only offensively, but on the forecheck. I think Hagelin will have another good game tonight, and make things happen for both lines he is on.
3. Tom Kuhnhackl: I absolutely loved the way Kuhnhackl played Monday night and I'd like to see more of the same tonight. He was absolutely outstanding on the forecheck, creating a couple turnovers in the process. I'd like to see him be a hound on the forecheck and through the neutral zone again, and create those turnovers that lead to offensive chances for him and his line.
What to Know for Watching/Listening
- The game is NATIONALLY televised on NBCSN at 8:00pm tonight.
- Coverage should begin at 7:00pm on NBCSN with pregame coverage.
Here is what you need to know if you're LISTENING to tonight's game:
- 105.9 The X, the Penguins app, the Penguins website and iHeart Radio app are all places you can pick up the game tonight.
- Mike Lange and Phil Bourque will have the game call beginning at 8:00pm.
- Penguins Pregame will precede the game coverage at 7:00pm. Josh Getzoff will host.
- Penguins Hot Line will follow the game action.
Pens Points:
- Pens Radio Keyword: 5pts