The Penguins will try to shake off Wednesday’s ugly 3-1 loss in Colorado and get right back in the hunt for the Metropolitan Division title as their four-game western road trip continues with a 10:00 p.m. faceoff tonight against the Anaheim Ducks.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: This will be the second meeting between the Penguins and Ducks this season, but you may have to stretch your memory to recall the first. That would have been the season opener, way back on October 9, 2014, which the Penguins won 6-4.
[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″ link=”http://youtu.be/4k_l5E2FZ9E”]
Whitehall, Pennsylvania native John Gibson got the start on that night. Perhaps as a result of the six goals the Penguins put past him, Frederick Andersen will get the nod in goal tonight for the Ducks.
Since the Ducks season-opening loss to the Penguins, they’ve been one of the best teams in the Western Conference, and they have a league-leading 91 points to show for it.
“They’ve been on a roll,” said Penguins head coach Mike Johnston. “They’re a heavy forechecking team, their defense are very active – they’re active in the defensive zone and active on the rush.”
“They’re a top team in the league with the balance that they have through the lineup,” he added. “Their goaltending has definitely gotten to where they thought it was going to be. I think that in the West, they’re going to be a big threat.”
TRADING PLACES: Defensemen Simon Despres and Ben Lovejoy, traded for each other on Monday, will face off against one another, and their former teammates, tonight.
“When I was traded from Pittsburgh to Anaheim (in 2012), it was the lockout season, so I had a whole half-season before I had to do this, so this is difficult,” Lovejoy said of playing against his old team. “I got emotional on the drive in.”
For Despres, seven years younger than Lovejoy, the transition may be even more difficult. The Penguins organization had been his only home in professional hockey.
“I was very emotional,” Despres said of being moved at the trade deadline. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
The young blueliner will now face his former teammates for the first time in his career.
“I’ve never done that before, so it’s going to be different,” he said.
THE 4077: Christian Ehrhoff (concussion) remains the lone Penguins player sidelined. He still has no timetable for returning to play. He suffered a setback in his return from a head injury after last Wednesday’s game against Washington and has not played since.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING: The New York Islanders regained first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-3 win in Nashville on Thursday night. The fourth-place Washington Capitals couldn’t gain any ground on the Penguins, losing at home to Minnesota, 2-1.
MINOR MATTERS: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (32-18-6, 2nd in AHL East) will hope to continue their impressive hot streak during a three-game New England road trip this weekend, starting with a 7:00 p.m. start tonight in Manchester, New Hampshire tonight.
The AHL Penguins have won four straight games and are 12-1-2 over their last 15 contests. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray, AHL goaltender of the month for February, has posted three straight shutout wins and hasn’t allowed a goal in his last
185:22.
The Wheeling Nailers (26-26-1, 6th in ECHL North) also have a big road trip coming up this weekend. They need to take advantage of a three-game road swing through Indiana to try to catch Kalamazoo and Cincinnati, who are tied with 57 points for the final two positions in the ECHL playoffs.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: No. 20 Robert Morris (22-7-5, Atlantic Hockey #1 seed) will be doing some scoreboard watching of their own this weekend as they await their second-round opponent in the Atlantic Hockey tournament. The Colonials will host the lowest-seeded first round winner in a three-game series starting Friday, March 13 at 84 Lumber Arena on Neville Island.
Each of the three first-round matchups will be contested in three-game series on the campus of the higher seed. They are as follows:
#11 Niagara at #6 Holy Cross
#10 American International at #7 Air Force
#9 Army at #8 Sacred Heart
The Big Ten still has two weeks remaining in its regular season schedule and Penn State (16-12-4, 4th in Big Ten) has some work to do if they want to find their way back to the top two and a first-round bye. This weekend, they host first-place Michigan for a two-game series starting tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Pegula Ice Arena.
