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Penguins have their flippers full with a charged up Lightning team |
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been really good this year. They’ve been injured and they have been resilient as their head coach likes to say. The team they are facing tonight started the season slow to the surprise of many. The slow start is over and the Tampa Bay Lightning are back to being a force. The two teams meet tonight in Tampa Bay.
Be sure to check the x axis because both these teams “lows” aren’t that low. Pittsburgh does look like they are in a free fall, but the bottoming out point is still 48%. On the flip side that means Tampa’s peak was at a ridiculous 64%. The Penguins are going to be a force when healthy and definitely after they make a trade for another top six winger. They are starting to show the signs of missing Brian Dumoulin and Jake Guentzel. The Penguins were excellent defensively earlier in the year and are trending in the opposite direction now
Brian Dumoulin was injured in the November 30th contest against the St. Louis Blues and you can see a sharp spike upwards shortly thereafter. I’m not saying Brian Dumoulin is completely responsible for the Penguins success as a quality defensive team. I am saying his absence has obviously impacted the depth chart. Certain Penguin defenders are being asked to play way above what they are capable of and they are also having a negative impact on very good players. It is what it is and the Penguins have navigated this time period without issues as far as standings points go. They will be way better when they don’t have to do it anymore.
The players to watch on Tampa are no surprise. Their top three players for 5v5 points per 60 are Nikita Kucherov (3.09), Brayden Point (2.93), and Steven Stamkos (2.91). Not to be outdone Evgeni Malkin leads them all at 3.38.
Will be a tough game for the Penguins, but they should be well rested and ready to go.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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