Game 18 Preview: Penguins Host Wild

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Nov 18, 09:09 AM | Hype this story!

Minnesota Wild
Series – 0 GP
W L OTL Pts.
0 0 0 0
 
Pittsburgh Penguins
Series – 0 GP
Pts. W L OTL
0 0 0 0

7:00 at Mellon Arena
TV: Versus
Radio: WXDX Radio, FM 105.9
Probable Goalies: Sabourin (Pit), Backstrom (Min)


 
Inside The Game

It’s six consecutive wins and counting as the Pittsburgh Penguins prepare to host the Minnesota Wild tonight on the Versus Network.

While the Wild may not be the most offensively potent team in the NHL — actually, they’re far from it — their defense is something to be reckoned with.  Their 30 goals-against rank first in the NHL by an 11-goal margin.  And don’t expect the power play to provide much of a spark, as the Wild have a league-best 93.3 penalty kill percentage.

In other words, goals will be difficult to come by tonight for the offensively talented Penguins.

As mentioned above, the Wild aren’t all that strong offensively, scoring the fourth fewest goals in the league, though their power play, clicking at 23.9 percent, ranks third in the NHL.

Minnesota, widely known as a trapping team, thrives on making teams pay for their mistakes, so, without a doubt, the Penguins should look to play tonight’s game at even strength, with a focus on quality positional hockey and safe, percentage plays, not high-risk, ticky-tacky passing.

In goal for the Penguins will be Dany Sabourin, who will make his second appearance in three games and third start of the season.  Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be healthy enough to serve as the backup, despite suffering from an undisclosed injury.

Also, of note, Evgeni Malkin is riding a 13-game assist streak, which is just three shy of the franchise record set by Jaromir Jagr.

Projected lines:

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Kennedy-Staal-Cooke
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Boucher-Goligoski

Sabourin

 
Standings
  GP W L OTL Pts Division Conference League
Penguins 17 11 4 2 24 2, Atlantic 4, Eastern 5, NHL
Wild 15 10 4 1 21 2, Northwest 5, Western 10, NHL
                 
Team Statistics
  GF GA PP% PK% Home Away L 10 Streak
Penguins 58 48 19.8 84.0 6-2-1 5-2-1 7-2-1 6 wins
Wild 40 30 23.9 93.3 5-1-1 5-3-0 6-4-0 2 wins
                 
Team Leaders
  Stat Penguins   Stat Wild
Goals 8 Satan Goals 6 Miettinen
Assists 23 Malkin Assists 13 Koivu
Points 30 Malkin Points 15 Koivu
+/- +6 Staal +/- +5 Pouliot
PIMs 46 Godard PIMs 16 Boogaard
Wins 8 Fleury Wins 10 Backstrom
GAA 1.68 Sabourin GAA 1.84 Harding
Sv% .942 Sabourin Sv% .934 Backstrom
 
Injuries
Penguins Injury Status
Fleury, DTD
Gonchar, IR
Whitney, IR
Undisclosed
Shoulder Surgery
Foot Surgery
Doubtful
Out until late March
Out until December
Wild Injury Status
Gaborik, IR
Foster, IR
Lower body
Leg
Out indefinitely
Out until mid-December
 
Note: Info up-to-date as of 9:00 am, Tuesday, November 18, 2008.

Comments

  1. Steve

    Nov 18, 11:30 AM

    Good point about focusing on safe plays & avoiding risky passes. I’ve noticed quite a few drop/backwards passes just after entering the attacking zone, which any good youth coach tells his players not to do on day one. A conscientious back-checking team like the Wild will eat those up if the Pens decide to play cute tonight…

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