Good evening everyone and welcome to the latest edition of Big Dave's Pens Pregame. Tonight, our Penguins continue their homestand as they welcome back Paul Martin and his San Jose Sharks.
Puck drops on the action tonight at 7:00pm, but you can begin enjoying the Pregame right now...
Today's "Big Dave Gameday Jam" comes from one of my favorite bands of all time. I have seen them in person several times and they are by far one of the best live shows I have ever seen. They are the ska legends of California, the Reel Big Fish and this song coms off their latest album, Candy Coated Fury. The song is "I Dare You To Break My Heart." Appropriate considering this is what the Penguins have done to us of late. Enjoy!
The State of the Penguins
After a dumpster fire of a weekend last week, the Penguins have turned it around and played decent hockey the last two games. While these games have been far from perfect, there have been several good things to take note of.
Firstly, the superstars are playing better. Evgeni Malkin has been on a tear this week, scoring three goals and five points entering tonight. That led the week in the NHL going into Friday's action. Malkin's dynamic play has returned, which begs the question of just how much Johnston's system has played into his struggles or whether it was just his lax attitude. Sidney Crosby is also trending up. He scored Thursday night for just his third goal of the season but has looked much better the last two games. Kris Letang, who has been almost as dreadful this season, has picked up assists in consecutive games and has even looked better in his own end. While Phil Kessel quietly continues to rack up points playing on Geno's right side.
Next, the power play has been better. The Penguins seemed to simplify things the last two games on the man advantage and it has paid off. The Pens have scored three goals in ten attempts this week. The reason? Instead of forcing that cross-ice pass through the slot, they have started feeding the guys in the slot. Bennett's PP tally came from that. The other two belong to Malkin, who has blasted perfect one times from the right half-wall, courtesy of Kris Letang on the point. If the Penguins continue to feed the slot and collapse on the net, the power play should be better moving forward.
Finally, the Penguins are scoring more overall. While their 2.26 goals per game average on the season is still cruddy, they have posted four goals in each of the last two games. David Perron has tallied two, Malkin three and Crosby, Bennett and Kunitz have added goals. The scoring still needs to be better, but the Penguins as a whole have attempted more shots, collapsed on the net more often and looked more lethal than they have over the first month of the season.
With the good, comes the bad and there is still some of that around the Penguins.
One of the biggest issues is the amount of penalties taken. While the refs have called tighter games the last week, the Penguins are still taking too many penalties. They took four in the first period alone on Thursday and eleven in the last two games. Granted, many of these were questionable calls at best, but the Pens cannot afford to continue to take this many.
Another big issue, despite the wins, is the Penguins lack of playing a complete, sixty minute game. The Penguins have gone into the third period in both of the last two games with a two goal lead. In both games, they gave up a goal and were outplayed in the last 10 minutes. This needs to stop. I constantly harp on how they need to play sixty minutes consistently and while they have gotten wins, they still are not doing it. It is just another indictment on Coach Johnston that he not only can't keep his players from taking penalties, but he also can't keep their heads in it for sixty minutes.
Tonight, the Penguins try to put it all together against one of the perennial contenders in the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks.
Shark Attack: The San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks had made the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year since 2003 before missing last year. Last season was marred by a completely toxic locker room. Joe Thornton and other veterans were constantly having a war of words with GM Dough Wilson and coach Todd McLellan. Logan Couture even came right out and said the locker room culture was "not great." It cost the organization a season.
The offseason saw some changes that have righted the ship, at least on the surface. McLellan was let go, and replaced by former Devils coach Peter DeBoer. DeBoer took the 2012 Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals with a far less talented team than what he is being given in San Jose. Many hope he can take them to the promise land. Roster-wise, goaltender Antti Niemi was let go while defenseman Matt Irwin and thug John Scott walked as well. In their place, they brought in veteran defenseman, and former Penguin, Paul Martin and former Capital Joel Ward. In net, the Sharks acquired former Kings backup Martin Jones after he was traded at the draft to Boston.
The offseason moves, as well as some rediscovered unity in the room, have the Sharks playing good hockey in a lack-luster Pacific Division. San Jose currently sits in second place in the Pacific with an 11-8-0 record. They are winners of four straight games and have been outstanding on the road.
Newly named Captain Joe Pavelski has paced the Sharks with 10 goals and 18 points on the season. Veteran Joe Thornton, Joel Ward and Norris finalist Brent Burns each have posted 14 points in 19 games so far. Patrick Marleau, who has been a hot topic on the trade rumor mill, has posted 11 points so far. On the back end, Paul Martin has provided a veteran defensive stalwart while Martin Jones has transformed from a great backup goalie to a solid starting net minder. Jones has gone 10-5-0 with a 2.09 goals against average in 16 games this season.
The Sharks are taking advantage of a down Pacific Division and a great road record. They will certainly pose a threat to the Penguins tonight, especially if the Pens decide to take Saturday off...
The Lowdown on the Sharks:
- Record of 11-8-0, 22 points and second in the Pacific.
- Winners of four straight games, including an OT win Thursday in Philadelphia.
- San Jose is 6-4-0 in their last 10 games and 8-3-0 on the road in 2015-16.
- The Sharks have a plus-4 goal differential and in the middle of the road for goals per game and goals against per game.
Scoring Leaders:
- C Joe Pavelski - 18pts (10G-8A)
- C Joe Thornton - 14pts (3G-11A)
- RW Joel Ward - 14pts (8G-6A)
- D Brent Burns - 14pts (5G-9A)
- LW Patrick Marleau - 11pts (6G-5A)
Injury Report:
- RW Ben Smith (upper-body) is OUT tonight. The winger returned to skating this week, but will not be in the lineup yet after suffering an "apparent head injury" a couple weeks back.
- C Logan Couture (lower-body) is OUT tonight. Couture broke his ankle in mid-October that required surgery. He is making progress and is still on the 4-6 week timeline given after surgery.
- RW Raffi Torres (suspension) is OUT tonight. Torres was given the league's longest suspension after hitting Anaheim's Patrick Maroon in the preseason.
Projected Lines:
- Melker Karlsson - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
- Matt Nieto - Patrick Marleau - Joel Ward
- Joonas Donskol - Tomas Hertl - Tommy Wingels
- Michael Haley - Chris Tierney - Mike Brown
Projected Pairs:
- Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
- Brent Burns - Paul Martin
- Brenden Dillon - Mirco Mueller
Martin Jones is expected to start in net.
News & Notes Around the Penguins
- No updates the Olli Maatta or Byran Rust at this time.
Pens/Sharks Matchup:
- Both games last season went to the shootout with the home team winning. The Penguins won 3-2 at home in late March while the Sharks took the early March matchup 2-1 at the SAP Center.
- Sidney Crosby was the Penguins leading scorer last year with a goal and two points.
- Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz scored the Pens only other goals in the matchup.
- The Flower played in both games, winning one with a 1.39 goals against average.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- The Shark's Patrick Marleau is one point away from 1000. If he posts a point tonight, we will see him become the 83rd member of the 1000 Point Club.
- Paul Martin returns for his first matchup against the Penguins. He played 297 games for the Penguins with 17 goals and 109 points over 5 seasons.
- Pittsburgh is 7-2-0 at home this season so far.
- Marc-Andre Fleury's 10 wins is currently tied for the NHL lead.
Projected Lines & Pairs
- Pascal Dupuis - Sidney Crosby - Patric Hornqvist
- David Perron - Evgeni Malkin - Phil Kessel
- Chris Kunitz - Nick Bonino - Beau Bennett
- Sergei Plotnikov - Matt Cullen - Eric Fehr
Pairs:
- Kris Letang - Rob Scuderi
- Ben Lovejoy - Brian Dumoulin
- Ian Cole - Adam Clendening
Marc-Andre Fleury wills start in net tonight.
#AskBigDave
From Jeff W on Facebook: "Would you rather fight a Crosby-sized Malkin or Malkin-sized Crosby?"
Jeff, this is ridiculous, but I would rather fight a Malkin-sized Crosby. Geno and I are roughly the same size, but I feel like Geno has some kinda badass, monster inside him that may kill someone in a fight. I've seen Sid fight a few times, I'll take him even the size of Geno.
This comes from Joshua G on Facebook: "If you were a goalie, would you rather face Sid or Geno on a breakaway? Why?"
Awesome question Joshua. I play defenseman, or at least try to when I play hockey, but if I were in net, I'd rather face Geno because I'm almost positive Sid would beat me every time. Both are world-class, but Sid not only has a great forehand, but he has the greatest backhand in hockey. Geno has some dipsy-dangle moves, but Sid's stick handling and quick hands are far scarier to me. So I'd rather face Geno.
From Robert H (@robertwh22) on the Tweety: "Do you attribute Crosby's lack of scoring to Johnston's system or just a slump?"
Robert, this is a great question, but I'm going to give you the easy answer of both. The Johnston system certainly does not cater to either Sid or Geno. Geno is starting to come out of it, but Sid has yet to come out of it. I think because Sid is more defensively responsible than 71, he often gets caught deeper in his own zone which hurts his breakout, that and defenders are going after him immediately on the break. This is slowing him up ice which is hurting his attempts to join the rush.
Now, that being said, Crosby absolutely is slumping. Scoring is down league wide, but someone is going to win the scoring title and there is no reason why Crosby can't be in on that. The system hurts, but at the end of the day, he still has far more talent than anyone else in hockey to be playing this way. He should be scoring more.
My 3 Keys to the Game
2. Special Teams: The refs are calling closer games all of a sudden, which means the PK and the Power Play are getting plenty of tries. The Penguins PK has struggled somewhat of late, and I'd like to see a little more out of the. While the PP has been better of late, it still needs to get leaps-and-bounds better, especially if there are going to be more opportunities. The Pens cast of characters on this group is too good to only score on the man-advantage 17.2% of the time over the last 16 games.
3. Star Power: There are a lot of big names in this game from Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Kessel to Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski and Burns. The key will be our stars outplaying theirs. It will be a tough test, but with the trending upwards of our four over the last two games, I think we could take this one.
My 3 Penguins to Watch
2. Kris Letang: Letang has looked better of late, especially Thursday when he was paired with Rob Scuderi. Now, I'm not attributing Letang's better performance to "The Piece," but Scuds does provide the safety valve that allows Letang to be a little more daring. Maybe we see more of that tonight.
3. Phil Kessel: Kessel has been solid of late, posting points in his last two games. However, I want to see more of the American Sniper. Kessel has an outstanding shot, but he has been passing up too many of late. I want to see him throw more shots on net and score more goals. Why not start tonight?
What to Know for Attending/Watching/Listening
- The puck drops on Pens/Jackets at 7:00pm. Gates at Consol open at 6:00pm.
- The Penguins will wear their traditional home jerseys tonight.
- Pens Gear's Gameday Special is the Pens "Thanksgiving Themed" t-shirt for just $19.99.
Here is what you need to know if you're watching tonight's game:
- ROOT Sports has the coverage tonight. Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey with the call beginning at 7:00pm. Dan Potash will have the interviews.
- Penguins Pregame will precede the game coverage beginning at 6:30pm.
- Penguins Post Game will follow the game action.
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 7:00pm.
- Penguins Pregame will precede the game coverage at 6:00pm. Josh Getzoff will host.
- Penguins Hot Line will follow the game action.
Pens Points:
- Attending the Game: 50pts
- Concession Purchases: 10pts
- Merchandise Purchases: 10pts
- ROOT Sports Pregame Keyword: 5pts
- ROOT Sports Post Game Keyword: 5pts
- Pens Radio Keyword: 5pts
- Miller Lite Nite at Cappy's Cafe in Pittsburgh - 25pts
Thank you all for tuning in.
Just a heads up, I will have no View From Where I Sat tonight.
I will return with the Pregame for out Thanksgiving Eve matchup with the Blues on Wednesday. Check for that.
That's it for me. Enjoy your Saturday and the game. LETS GO PENS!!!