Pittsburgh Vs. Atlanta
The Penguins will look to keep the ball rolling Saturday night when the squad travels to Atlanta to take on the Thrashers.
Since HockeyBuzz.com was acting up last night, this will be more of a Friday recap/Saturday preview.
Friday's 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning was huge for the Penguins. Pittsburgh played the full 60 minutes. There was solid play across the board, with strong efforts from the defense, forwards and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh has a chance to jump right back in it and keep the momentum up against Atlanta.
Game Time- 7:00. TV- FSN Pittsburgh.
The Lineup
Forwards:
Friday's victory produced a smattering of scoring: Pascal Dupuis, Max Talbot and Sidney Crosby each had a goal and an assist, while Mark Letestu, Chris Kunitz and Mike Rupp each picked up helpers.
There was no morning skate Saturday, so it is unclear if head coach Dan Bylsma will make any changes within the forward ranks. With the way the team played Friday night, we'll likely see a very similar lineup against the Thrashers.
Projected Lines:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Cooke-Malkin-Asham
Conner-Letestu-Kennedy
Rupp-Talbot-Adams
Sidney Crosby is continuing to produce as expected, with nine points in Pittsburgh's past four games, and it's great to see Talbot and Dupuis break out with multi-point games.
Defense:
As impressive as the forwards were Friday night, the defense looked even better. The group played a stout, agressive, rough-and-tumble game, but they did it wisely. It was great to see the defense impose its will against the Lightning. That was what Penguins fans expected to see when Pittsburgh signed Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin.
Projected Pairs:
Letang-Orpik
Michalek-Martin
Goligoski-Engelland
The defense also chipped in on the offensive side in Friday's victory. Alex Goligoski and Deryk Engelland both scored; Engelland's tally was his first in the NHL, and Kris Letang earned an assist.
The defense took some serious heat after Wednesday's meltdown against Boston and responded big time Friday night. Hopefully we just saw the turning point for the group.
Goaltending:
Friday's victory was the kind of game that Marc-Andre Fleury desperately needed. The fans at CONSOL Energy Center pumped him up before the game with chants of "Fluery, Fleury." Pittsburgh fans are the best in the league; it was truly a classy move by everyone in the building.
Fleury only faced 16 shots in the victory, but this number is deceiving as the "Flower" had a handful of beautiful saves at key times to keep the Penguins in the game.
The game was career win No. 150 for Fleury. Here are some of his postgame thoughts:
After the game, Bylsma did not say which goaltender he would go with on Saturday. I expect to see Fleury in there. This is the perfect chance for him to gain some serious momentum.
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