Happy Tuesday Penguins nation and welcome to the latest edition of Big Dave's Pens Pregame. Late tonight, our Penguins will enter the Shark's lair to face off against Paul Martin and the San Jose Sharks.
The puck drops on Penguins/Sharks tonight at 10:30pm, but you can begin enjoying all things Pens/Sharks in my Pregame now....
Tonight's "Big Dave Gameday Jam" comes from one of my favorites right now. We heard one of their song earlier in the season, and this one has been one of my favorites of late. This one, off their "Consolers of the Lonely" album, is "Attention" by the Raconteurs. Enjoy it!
The State of the Penguins
Yes, we are saying that again, but hopefully this time we mean it.
The Penguins are coming off yet another abysmal back-to-back showing this weekend. Though they got two points out of the weekend, the Pens failed to take advantage of the schedule which handed them two of the worst teams in the league. It should have been an easy four points for the Penguins.
Instead, we are where we have found ourselves so often this year, left out to dry with many, many questions. What is the Penguins identity? Is Mike Johnston the right fit for this job? Are some of these locker room rumors true? When is Sid going to get going? How much longer can we go with the status quo?
Like everyone else, I don't have the answers to these questions. That being said, I do believe this is a big week ahead for the Penguins. Tonight, they have San Jose in the SAP Center, a place they have had little success over the last decade. That will be followed by back-to-back games in LA on Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday and the trip will end a week from tomorrow in Denver. While Anaheim and Colorado have struggled, they are still very good scoring teams and the Kings and Sharks are solid defensive clubs with a lot of scoring talent. If the Pens manage to muck up this trip, I don't know how Mike Johnston can still be the coach when the Pens return next Friday to Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins will need to play like they did against St. Louis last week. Evgeni Malkin will need to continue to take over games and the team as a whole will have to find a way to win these games convincingly, otherwise, the mediocrity will only continue...
Rollin' Along out West: San Jose
The Penguins learned this the hard way a few weeks ago when they took the Penguins down at Consol Energy Center. The Sharks took down the Penguins 3-1 that night, but more importantly, they took the Penguins down convincingly.
While last year may have been a down year, the Sharks are back to where they should be under new coach Peter DeBoer. They currently sit just a single point behind the Kings in the Pacific division and they are doing this all without the likes Logan Couture, who has missed about a month with a leg injury.
Without Couture, the Sharks have relied on the veterans Joe Pavelski, Joel Ward and Patrick Marleau to pace the team in scoring. That trio, spread over the top three lines, has combined for 62 points in 23 games. Then you have the youngsters that have emerged in light of injury and solid play. Tomas Hertl has rebounded from a sophomore slump to post 11 points thus far, while rookies Melker Karlsson and Joonas Donskoi have posted 6 goals and 11 points in top six roles. Finally, there is the bomber from the blue line, Brent Burns. The Penguins learned the hard way in the last matchup that Burns is not one to be taken lightly. The high-scoring defenseman torched the Pens for two goals in the first game and is second on the Sharks' roster with 20 points on the season.
San Jose has won two of its three matchups since their last meeting with Pittsburgh. In those three games, they have posted 12 goals. If the Pens hope to steal one in the difficult SAP Center, they will need to tighten up defensively and start netting more goals.
The Lowdown on San Jose:
- 14-9-0 on the season, good for 28pts and 2nd in the Pacific.
- The Sharks are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.
- San Jose has won two of their last three game since the Penguins game on 11/21 and posted 12 goals in those games.
Scoring Leaders:
- C Joe Pavelski - 23pts (12G-11A)
- D Brent Burns - 20pts (9G-11A)
- RW Joel Ward - 19pts (9G-10A)
- LW Patrick Marleau - 18pts (9G-9A)
- C Joe Thornton - 15pts (3G-12A)
Injury Report:
- Raffi Torres (suspension) is still OUT tonight.
- C Logan Couture (lower-body) is still OUT tonight. Couture broke his foot in early October and required surgery. He has begun skating but he is still a few weeks from returning.
- RW Ben Smith (head) is OUT tonight. Smith is suffering from concussion issues and hasn't played since the end of October. He has returned to skating, but still not game action.
- D Justin Braun (upper-body) is OUT tonight. Braun is suffering from some elbow issues and won't play tonight.
Projected Lines:
- Melker Karlsson - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
- Joonas Donskoi - Patrick Marleau - Joel Ward
- Matt Nieto - Tomas Hertl - Tommy Wingels
- Dainius Zubrus - Chris Tierney - Mike Brown
Projected Pairs:
- Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Brenden Dillon
- Paul Martin - Brent Burns
- Mirco Mueller - Matt Tennyson
Martin Jones is expected to start in net tonight.
NEws & Notes Around the Pens
- D Olli Maatta returned to practice yesterday. While he was limited, it is encouraging news to have the young Fin back out on the ice after his scary incident against Minnesota two weeks back.
- F Bryan Rust (hand) has returned from his broken wrist/hand.
Transaction Report:
- F Bryan Rust, who was injured the last month, was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre yesterday. He is expected to return to their lineup this week.
Pens/Sharks:
- San Jose won the first meeting of the season 3-1 in Pittsburgh on 11/21.
- Brent Burns scored two of the three San Jose goals in the that game. Paul Martin had the other.
- Phil Kessel scored the lone Pittsburgh goal in that game.
- The Sharks have gone 2-1-0 since the first meeting, while the Penguins have gone 1-0-2 in that span.
- The Penguins have NOT won at the SAP Center in San Jose since 1997.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- D Kris Letang is one point away from 300. His next point will make him the 5th Penguins defenseman to reach that mark.
- The Pens have earned points in 5 of their last 6 games (3-1-2 overall in that span)
- Evgeni Malkin has 7 goals in his last six games. His 11 goals leads the Penguins and his 11 assists is second only to Kris Letang.
- Penguins prospects Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentezel had huge games on Saturday night. Blueger posted five points (1G-4A) in the first period of Minnesota State's game against Alaska-Anchorage. Guentezel had five points (2G-3A) for Nebraska-Omaha against Ohio State. Guentezel currently sits 3rd in NCAA scoring race with 22 points.
- The Penguins' road PK is the best in the NHL, killing 89.6% of penalties.
- D David Warsofsky will make his Penguins debut tonight. He will wear number 5, formerly made famous by Deryk Engelland and Ulf Samuelsson.
#AskBigDave
From Claire H on the Tweety: "What do you think would be an effective deterrent for guys like Brandon Dubinsky? I'd like to see these kinds of incidents stop."
This is an excellent question in light of what has become an alarming trend in the NHL, and especially after what happened in Columbus last Friday.
The NHL is just bad at handling these issues, period. You look at how they cracked down on Raffi Torres or Matt Cooke and you think, "maybe the league is finally starting to get this." Then you have a ruling like Saturday's and you are 100% sure they have not.
The issues with player safety and preventing these things from happening all come from the league, and since they cannot manage it correctly, I don't think there is a real deterrent to stop this. They laid a president when they ruled on Cooke a few years back and Torres this year. Those kinds of hits are down, but they aren't completely gone.
The same can be said for the Sid-Dubinsky thing Friday. Even if they call a major and suspend him 5 games or whatever, it won't stop these guys from playing that way. And that is especially reinforced by the league when they don't punish accordingly. Just look, 24 hours after the Sid situation, Johnny Oduya did the same thing to Zach Parise and nothing came of it.
Now, in my opinion, the Sid thing warranted more than a game. Two would have been my low, 3-5 my realistic number. I don't see the league giving more than five unless he significantly hurt Sid, which is a problem all in itself. Injury to th player shouldn't add or subtract from a penalty in my opinion.
If I was in charge of the NHL player safety, my process in such manners to deter more of these incidents is fine the player, suspend them if necessary and fine the coach. If they are a repeat offender, I suspend the player, impose a stiffer fine on the coach and fine the organization as well. Hit these guys in their wallets and they will start to pay attention.
The problem, sadly, Claire is that the league as it stands now will not do this. They don't have the stones to and thus, we will be made to suffer through more BS as the days go by. It's a shame, it really gives the sport a black eye.
Darci from the Tweety asks: "Since goalie interference is such an issue - do you still think it's worth keeping as a coaches challenge?"
This is a good question Darci. Let me begin with the whole idea of a coaches challenge. I like the premise. There have certainly been causes for it in the past, and its implementation certainly helps make up for the refs inadequacies.
Now, I do not like the fact that you can use a coaches challenge to challenge goalie interference on a goal. There is always going to some sort of contact that can be constituted as "goalie interference," which only gives these nitwit refs more excuses to call them off.
I have no problem keeping the coaches challenge for goals, but not for goalie interference. Now, that could go against us from time to time, but I simply do not trust the referees enough to make the correct decision about this very subject.
I am combining the questions from Rob A, Michael S, and Nick B on the Tweety since they all asked about the Pens response to the Sid-Dubinsky issue and toughness going forward: "What do you make of the Pens reaction to the Sid-Dubinsky incident? What is your take on the Pens toughness? Do you think they should trade for an enforcer, call up Sestito or simply ask the rest of the team to cowboy up and be tougher? I'm not in favor of acquiring a goon, so do you think Sergei Plotnikov could be used in sort of an enforcers role?"
So let's begin with Michael's question about the Pens reaction. I do not like their reaction, simply because there really wasn't one. Hornqvist got in Dubinsky's grill afterward and Geno ended up trying to fight Jack Johnson over it, but other than that, there was no response against Columbus. In fact, the Penguins shied away from any retribution for the most part and didn't play well after the incident. That is a detriment to the coaching staff and the character of the players than anything else. You got to stand up for your teammates, especially your captain in that situation. They really didn't do that.
And that is a problem that will not go away. GMJR built this team to respond to such nonsense by hurting teams on the subsequent power plays that result from such incidents. But sometimes, you just need someone to go over and make sure that doesn't happen again. Steve Downie was great at that, but he just didn't know how to control himself the rest of the time. Deryk Engelland was good at it, as were the likes of Matt Cooke, Joe Vitale, Tanner Glass and Eric Godard. But the league has few of those players left and the Penguins don't have any of them. Which is a problem to an extent.
I don't think they should make a trade for an enforcer who is just an enforcer. If you can acquire a top-four defenseman who can double as an enforcer fine. But I do not think they need to go out and add one to the bottom six. As for Tom Sestito, you could call him up for such games, but he really is of little use the rest of the time and he would take away from the scoring talent of the bottom six. If you just want Sestito to come up for the Columbus game on the 21st and just have him be a savage, than fine, but in a continuous role I don't think he should be the goon full time.
What the Penguins need is for this group to be tougher and more protective of everyone. You have big guys like Eric Fehr who need to play to their size and see Chris Kunitz and David Perron be a little more forceful. Overall, the whole team just needs to be tougher.
Now, let me finish with Nick's question of whether Sergei Plotnikov can be turned into the enforcer. I think to an extent, but I don't think you will see him turn into Steve Downie. Plotnikov can provide that big, physical presence and throw his body around more, but you won't see him dropping the gloves much.
Gents, I hope that answered your questions sufficiently enough.
From Reedie58 on the Tweety: "Do you think Kris Letang can turn his season around and be a Norris contender?"
Reedie this is a tough question to answer. As you know, I have been rather critical of Letang's play thus far. He was good the first week of the year, then absolutely atrocious for about a month. Now, he is starting to pull it out now, which is good.
Now, can he turn it around to the point to be a Norris contender?
I think that will be incredibly difficult.
Letang currently sits in a tie for twelfth amongst defenseman in scoring with 14 points. The current leader is Dallas' John Klingberg with 27 and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson just a point behind him. So Letang isn't too far back points-wise at the moment.
However, the problem is two fold. Will the Penguins score enough for Letang to get the numbers? The Pens are still struggling offensively, which will hurt the stats of the big guys. I don't know if Letang will get the huge numbers necessary to get back into the race under the current system. If there is a change, then maybe. The other part of the problem is his plus/minus. It's not a huge stat, but it does play a role in consideration. Letang currently sits at a minus-14, which is incredibly bad for anyone involved in the Norris contention.
So Reedie, I think Letang can turn the season around, but it will be difficult to be a contender, and damn near impossible to be a finalist with some of the stats.
Projected Lines & Pairs
- Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
- David Perron - Evgeni Malkin - Phil Kessel
- Beau Bennett - Nick Bonino - Patric Hornqvist
- Sergei Plotnikov - Matt Cullen - Eric Fehr
Pairs:
- Ben Lovejoy - Brian Dumoulin
- Kris Letang - Rob Scuderi
- Ian Cole - David Warsofsky
Marc-Andre Fleury will start in net tonight.
My 3 keys to the Game
2. Tight Defense: The Penguins gave up a combined 80 shots over the last weekend. That is abysmal against two last place teams. The Pens need to do a better job in their own zone and prevent shots. Better defense will go a long way.
3. Bottom Six: Hornqvist is being relegated to the 3rd line. Bennett is being forced to the off wing. Plotnikov has gotten better, but the bottom six has done little the last few game. Tonight, it will need to be much better. The third line will have growing pains with the alignment, but the fourth line has looked very good over the last week. I'd like to see some scoring from them.
My 3 Penguins to Watch
2. Sergei Plotnikov: This guy has played outstandingly over the last week. For a guy who has been such a spot starter, he is beginning to take control of that 4th line left wing. He played outstandingly against St. Louis and he kept up that level the last two games. He has yet to score, but something tells me that tonight he is going to get his first NHL goal.
3. Chris Kunitz: He is getting put back on the top line left wing. If this is going to be the case, he needs to produce like he did a few years ago. Otherwise, this experiment will do nothing but fail, again. This will certainly be something to watch tonight and moving forward.
What to Know for Watching/Listening
- ROOT Sports has the coverage tonight. Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey with the call beginning at 10:30pm. Dan Potash will have the interviews.
- Penguins Pregame will precede the game coverage beginning at 10:00pm.
- 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 10:30pm.
- Penguins Pregame will precede the game coverage at 9:30pm. Josh Getzoff will host.
- Penguins Hot Line will follow the game action.
Pens Points:
- ROOT Sports Pregame Keyword: 5pts
- ROOT Sports Postgame Keyword: 5pts
- Pens Radio Net Keyword: 5pts
I'd like to thank you all for stopping by. I want to thank you all for your continued support of this blog, twitter and facebook pages. It makes it very humbling to have you guys engage with me and enjoy my work so much. Thank you all and continue to enjoy my work!
I will NOT have a post game tonight, simply because of the late start.
I will return this weekend with Pregames for both the matchup with LA and Anaheim.
Enjoy the game everyone and have a lovely evening. LETS GO PENS!!!