Some great news regarding Brian Dumoulin

Dumoulin taking his regular spot alongside Trevor Daley in first drill.

— Jonathan Bombulie (@BombulieTrib) March 23, 2016

It appears the Penguins most pleasant surprise this season will not be missing any game action after taking a hard check from Alexander Ovechkin. Pittsburgh has been off from game action since Sunday which allowed time for recovery from what appears to be a minor ailment.

Brian Dumoulin has played a very good brand of hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year and while the team still has Derrick Pouliot in the bullpen in case anybody gets hurt that doesn't change the fact that Dumoulin has graduated to a permanent spot in the Penguins top 4 and that is never ideal to try and replace.

Out of the players on Pittsburgh who have played at least 400 minutes this year Dumoulin has had the lowest quality of teammate yet finds himself with a blue bubble which means he is driving play. That isn't easy to do as quality of teammate can wreak havoc on a players ability to succeed.



Dumoulin is marked with a red dot.

Here is something I meant to throw in an earlier blog this year but forgot to. Dumoulin has been unlucky this year. He sits on zero goals but deserves better.

Brian Dumoulin ixG Shot Charts pic.twitter.com/29q4BsWgy7

— DTM About Heart (@DTMAboutHeart) March 12, 2016

In this expected goals model it was actually likelier for Dumoulin to have ten goals than the zero that he does have this season. Crazy.

Coach Sullivan confirms that Brian Dumoulin and Beau Bennett will be a game-time decision for tomorrow.

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 23, 2016

Bennett working on the PP is a really good sign. https://t.co/fuGtt2CzqA pic.twitter.com/fmRahkEd4P

— m g (@kikkerlaika) March 23, 2016

For me the lineup change is a pretty simple choice for the forwards. Oskar Sundqvist comes out of the lineup, Eric Fehr bumps over to center, and Beau Bennett plays on the right wing.

"Beau Bennett is just going to get hurt again"

Probably.

Play him while you have him. If Bennett goes down plug the next guy in like the team has been doing. Beau Bennett is still one of the 12 best forwards on the team.

"Don't mess with a winning lineup"

Always try to get better. Mike Sullivan agrees:

Coach, do you think your guys needed a feeling-out process when you first got here and now they’re playing the way you envisioned?

“I don’t think a team ever arrives. It’s a constant process to try to get better. When teams reach their potential, it’s that insatiable appetite to get better each and every day, and you never really arrive. You can always improve at something. That’s our approach with this group. Whether it was a feeling-out process when we first took this team over or how it’s evolved with some of the new players that have come on to the team, whatever it may be, I think we put a stretch of games together where we’ve become a difficult team to play against. We have to recognize what those details are and why we’re having success and then we’ve got to challenge each other to continue to do it.”

*Quote courtesy of Jonathan Bombulie*

Apparently some dude named Scott Wedgewood is going to be playing goal for New Jersey tomorrow

Here is the latest look at how each NHL team is doing.



Pittsburgh is hanging out with all the California teams while New Jersey are by themselves in Dullville, USA

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