Penguins (26-12-3, 12-5-2 road) at Montreal (21-16-3, 12-5-3 home), 7:00 p.m. Eastern
The Penguins most recent history against the Canadiens has not been kind. Strapped to the back of goalie Jaroslav Halak in the 2009-10 playoffs, Montreal knocked off the Pens in a stunning seven-game series, culminating with a Game 7, Mellon Arena-closing 5-2 victory. But enough about last year.
This season the two teams have met just once, when the Habs traveled to Consol Energy Center on October 9. The Pens were still breaking in their new digs with their second home game and Marc-Andre Fleury was still warming up to a new campaign.
Pittsburgh fell to Montreal, 3-2, with the Flower allowing two late third-period goals to Michael Cammalleri (17:48) and Scott Gomez (18:12). Carey Price stopped 36 of 38 shots while Fleury gave up three goals on 27 shots. Evgeni Malkin and Mark Letestu both scored their first goals of the season.
Cammalleri leads the Canadiens with eight goals and an assist in his last eight games against Pittsburgh. Scott Gomez has played in a whopping 60 games against the Pens, compiling 12 goals and 52 points. P.K. Subban, who took out Jordan Staal with a blade to his foot in last year's postseason, has struggled in 2010-11. Subban has served as a healthy scratch on occasion and has 12 points (3, 9) through 37 contests -- though he did score against Atlanta in Montreal's last game.
Life for the second-year blueliner hasn't been made any easier by the loss of Andre Markov. A balky knee will keep the Russian power-play specialist out for the remainder of the season. The team went out and snatched James Wisniewski from the Islanders a week ago and Wisniewski has already responded with two goals and five points in three games, including an overtime game-winner.
Finally, Carey Price has come back down to earth in the last month. Since Dec. 7, Price has won just two of his 10 starts (2-7-1). He's held opponents to fewer than three goals in only two of those games.
Note: The Canadiens (87.3 percent) and the Pens (87.2) are first and second, respectively, on the penalty kill.
*****
Thursday Storylines
Is The Price Right?
Montreal goalie Carey Price hasn't played his best hockey recently, but will he be buoyed by the goalie who swiped his starting All-Star spot with a strong final two weeks of voting?
Flower Power
Fleury has some payback after last year's playoffs. The goal he allowed to Scott Gomez on Oct. 9 might just be the softest of his season. He's got decent wins-losses numbers against the Habs for his career (9-7-1), but his peripherals aren't as solid (3.45 GAA and .886 save percentage).
P.K. Subban
Subban sliced Jordan Staal in the postseason and his in-your-face attitude against Sidney Crosby and others across the league have left him with less respect than the average NHLer. He scored in his last game, but has either been a non-factor or a healthy scratch in recent weeks.
*****
Pens Projected Lines
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Kennedy (Cooke)-Staal-Malkin
Cooke (Kennedy)-Letestu-Conner
Talbot-Adams-Rupp
Without a morning skate, it's not yet known who will sit out. Arron Asham and Deryk Engelland served as healthy scratches Wednesday.
Marc-Andre Fleury could get a rest, especially since Brent Johnson has played since over two weeks. That said, going against the Canadiens in Montreal is a special happening and the Flower will likely play.
*****
Injury Roll Call
Penguins
Eric Godard -- Out, healing from broken nose.
Mike Comrie -- Out, not expected back until perhaps April.
Montreal
Roman Hamrlik -- Out, will miss Thursday with undisclosed injury, Alexandre Picard to take his spot.
Josh Gorges -- Out, on IR with knee injury.
Andrei Markov -- Out, on IR with knee injury and will likely miss rest of season.
*****
Five Wednesday Night Moments
-- The Penguins scoring eight goals with Sid and Geno contributing just two points. Amazing, unless you have 87 or 71 on your fantasy teams.
-- Chris Kunitz tallying his second career hat trick. That's the kind of net-front presence stick work that comes in handy in May and June.
-- Tampa Bay. What happened there? Beating Washington the night before likely took a lot of the Lightning out of their game. I can't say I enjoyed seeing Stamkos screw up on the penalty shot. No points or special play by Martin St. Louis disappointed me, in a general hockey-fan appreciation kind of way.
-- The return of Alex Goligoski. Say what you want about Goose on these boards, but he's a power-play demon when he's confident. To the Goligoski naysayers, think of it this way. The better he plays, the more he boosts his trade value.
-- Chris Conner. I always liked him when he was with Dallas from a potential fantasy perspective. That angle clearly isn't in the cards, anymore, but there's nothing better than seeing a guy as small as Conner is, find a role on the best team in the NHL. The Pens are 19-3-2 with him in the lineup.
That's five moments already. What are yours?
*****
HBO's 24/7
Parting is such sweet sorrow. I like the way both Pittsburgh and Washington can feel good about the way they were portrayed in the special. Wednesday's edition had a bad ending -- Pittsburgh lost for those on vacation in Bermuda -- but the show was a win-win for whomever watched. I will say that I'm sick of the often used slow-motion effects, though super slo-mo never gets old.
We'll always remember the shovel. Who do you think got the shovel for Wednesday's win? Yeh, I'm going with Chris Kunitz, too.
Crosby looked pretty dazed in the locker room before the final 20 minutes of the Classic.
Alexander Ovechkin gets warnings for leaving his feet on hits before he gets penalized.
Refs can be pretty funny. "I just missed seven cross checks," one said in response to a Matt Cooke claim. "I'm pretty F'in awful."
It is fun to watch and hear goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's antics during team shootouts, despite so many media outlets telling us how great it is.
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau put this bulletin board fodder from the
Beaver County Times before the Winter Classic. Can't say I disagree much with what Mr. Madden wrote.
Have a great day everybody,
JT
www.twitter.com/johntoperzer
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»