The Pittsburgh Penguins have less than 24 hours to recover from yesterday’s hectic 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in which they lost both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Today, they’ll face another dangerous opponent in the Detroit Red Wings.
TODAY’S OPPONENT: The Red Wings have lost four out of their last five games, including a 7-2 thrashing at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Detroit has now fallen to within three points of fourth-place Boston.
This is the third and final regular-season matchup between the two teams. They split the first two games, with the Red Wings winning 4-3 in overtime in Detroit in October, and the Penguins winning 4-1 in Pittsburgh in Februrary.
THE 4077: Penguins captain Crosby will be a game-time decision. He took part in yesterday’s morning skate and pre-game warmup, but was a late scratch and was replaced by Craig Adams in the lineup. Penguins head coach Mike Johnston characterized Crosby’s issue as an illness, not an injury.
Malkin will not play today, after skating only 4:15 in Saturday’s loss to the Bruins. He was hit hard and suffered a lower-body injury on the first shift of the game by Bruins forward Chris Kelly, and tried to return but was unable to finish.
The Penguins did get some good news, as they finally got defenseman Christian Ehrhoff back on Saturday. The German blueliner had missed six straight games and 18 of the last 19 with concussion-related symptoms. He was even with six shots, a hit and two blocks in 21:24 in his return to action. He also saw 4:41 of time on the power play.
UP AND DOWN: The Penguins re-assigned rookie defenseman Derrick Pouliot to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and recalled forward Andrew Ebbett.
Pouliot, 21, was sent down because he is the only Penguins player that could be assigned to Wilkes-Barre without being exposed to waivers. He was a healthy scratch on Saturday against Boston after Ehrhoff returned to action. In 28 games with the Penguins, he has seven goals, 16 assists, 20 penalty minutes and a plus-3 rating.
Ebbett, 32, is Wilkes-Barre’s second-leading scorer, accumulating 38 points in only 34 games, as he has spent much of the year between Pittsburgh and the AHL. Ebbett is 10th in the AHL with 1.06 points-per-game amongst players with at least 10 games played. Ebbett is expected to suit up if Crosby cannot play today.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING: The New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 on Saturday, while the New York Islanders dropped their second in a row, losing 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens. As a result, the Rangers have passed the Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Rangers host the Florida Panthers tonight at 5:00 p.m. and the Washington Capitals will host the Boston Bruins at 7:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game on NBCSN. The Capitals and Bruins are tied in wild-card position with 82 points, six ahead of the Panthers for the final playoff spots.
MINOR MATTERS: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (36-19-2, 2nd in AHL East) continued their current hot streak and beat their longtime rivals, the Hershey Bears, 3-1 on Saturday. Matt Murray was again outstanding in goal for the AHL Penguins, making 26 saves to earn his ninth consecutive victory.
Conor Sheary’s game-winning goal was his 20th of his rookie season. Veteran forward Tom Kostopoulos had two assists. The Penguins are now just three points behind the Bears for first place in the East Division, and have a game in hand. They host Hartford today at 4:05.
The Wheeling Nailers (29-28-1, 5th in ECHL North) lost 4-1 to the Elmira Jackals on Saturday, falling back out of a playoff spot after clawing their way into the top four the night before. Eric Hartzell took the loss despite making 32 saves and Mike Ratchuk scored the lone goal for the Nailers.
Wheeling was forced to play with only five defenseman, as Bobby Shea and David Makowski were both called up to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. They are now one point behind the Cincinnati Cyclones for the final playoff spot in the North. The Nailers will host the first-place Toledo Walleye on Tuesday.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: The Robert Morris Colonials (26-7-5, AHC #1 seed) swept the Niagara Purple Eagles this weekend in their best-of-three series in the Atlantic Hockey tournament quarterfinals at 84 Lumber Arena.
The Colonials were buoyed by their top line of Zac Lynch, Greg Gibson and Cody Wydo on Saturday, as the trio accounted for eight points and Lynch had the game-winner in Saturday’s series-clinching 6-3 win.
Penn State (18-14-4, 4th in Big Ten) finished their season with back-to-back losses at Minnesota over the weekend. They will enter the Big Ten tournament as the fourth seed and will face fifth-place Ohio State on Thursday.
Photo credit: NHL
