If anything is for certain as the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to face off against the Dallas Stars, it’s that they don’t want a repeat of their last matchup.
On Nov. 11, the Penguins gave up six first-period goals – tying a franchise record for most goals allowed in the first period of a game at home – and dropped their first contest of the season against the Stars, 7-1.
And in that game, Pittsburgh had a very hard time defending Dallas’s size and speed.
McGroarty Scores First NHL Goal In Penguins 5-4 Overtime Loss To BluesThe Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday – which gave the Blues their whopping 11th straight win – obviously wasn’t the desired result.
“Our compete level has to be high,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve got to get into people early, just our ability to move to them and not let them get to the good ice and establish the ice. Once they get there, it’s hard to move them because they’re big and they’re strong. But we can move to them and try to deny them the good ice. That gives us a better opportunity to establish inside positioning and box-outs.
“But, without a doubt, that’s going to be one of the challenges against a team as big as they are.”
Dallas also has the league’s best penalty kill, which will be tasked with stopping a Penguins’ power play that has scored on four of its last 10 opportunities.
“They have good size, they can skate, they anticipate well, they have good sticks, and they have good goaltending,” Sullivan said. “That’s a pretty good formula for a penalty kill. We’re going to have to move the puck, we’re going to have to be willing to shoot… but I think, most important, we’ve got to get inside. We’ve got to make them defend the scoring area. We’ve got to be willing to put the puck there, but we’ve got to get people there, also.”
Rookies Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen – who have played well the past two games and both registered career-firsts in a 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday – will still be part of the power play units, and they’ll also still be featured in the Penguins’ top-six.
But this time, Koivunen may have a new center.
Evgeni Malkin – who has been out since Mar. 23 with an upper-body injury – took line rushes on Friday and will be in the lineup on Saturday. In practice, he was working on a second line with Koivunen and Rickard Rakell, while Sidney Crosby continues to center McGroarty and Bryan Rust on the first line.
With Malkin back in the mix, here is the rest of the Penguins’ lineup. Tristan Jarry will get the start in goal:
McGroarty-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Koivunen
Dewar-Hayes-Tomasino
Heinen-Lizotte-Acciari
Grzyleck-Letang
Karlsson-Timmins
Graves-Shea
Penguins Notebook: Malkin Practices With Team, Bemstrom OptionedIt appears a key forward is nearing a return for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Stars are one of the hottest teams in hockey, as they have an active seven-game winning streak and are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. They are second overall in the Western Conference – and third in the NHL – with 104 points, and they are four points back of the NHL’s best team in the Winnipeg Jets for the Central Division crown.
The Stars have three players in Matt Duchene, Jason Robertson, and Mikko Rantanen – acquired at the trade deadline by the Stars – who are over the point-per-game threshold, and they have a league-leading seven different players with 20 or more goals on their roster. They are fifth overall in the league in goals for and tied for third in goal differential (plus-69).
Penguins forward Bryan Rust enters Saturday’s matinee matchup just one goal shy of 200 for his NHL career.
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