The Penguins are in Ottawa for a 7:30 faceoff with the Senators tonight. The Penguins are coming off one of their best performances in a year, a 4-1 drubbing of the Detroit Red Wings in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
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One of the biggest problems for the Penguins lately has been consistency. Since the first of the year, they are 2-5 in games following a victory.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The Senators stopped a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over hapless Buffalo on Tuesday night. The Senators have struggled against Metropolitan Division teams this season, with a 3-7-4 record including seven straight losses.
The Senators top goaltender, Craig Anderson, has an injury to his blocker hand and hasn’t played since January 21. Rookie Andrew Hammond has been backing up Robin Lehner in his absence. Lehner is seen as the Senators’ goaltender of the future, but has just a .908 save percentage and an 8-11-2 record on the year. He’s 1-0 in two career appearances against the Penguins with a .943 save percentage.
All-star representative Bobby Ryan leads Ottawa with 37 points. Erik Karlsson leads the way from the blueline with 36 points, and Mike Hoffman, a 25-year old former fifth-round pick in his first pro season, leads the team with 17 goals.
HOT START: Since coming over from Edmonton on January 2, David Perron has been absolutely lights out for the Penguins. He has nine goals in 16 games, compared with 5 goals in his 38 games with Edmonton this season. His .563 goals-per-game with the Penguins is the highest mark that he’s recorded at any point in his career.
MEET THE NEW BOSS: The last time the Penguins played the Ottawa Senators, they won on Christian Ehrhoff’s dramatic third-period game-winning goal on December 6 at Consol Energy Center.
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Three days later, the Senators fired head coach Paul MacLean. MacLean had compiled an 11-11-5 record to start the season, but was relieved of his duties in favor of former assistant coach Dave Cameron. Under Cameron so far, the Senators have a near-identical 10-11-4 record.
THE 4077: Also absent from tonight’s game will be Ehrhoff, who will miss his seventh consecutive game with concussion symptoms. He did skate prior to Wednesday’s morning skate with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar, but has yet to practice with the team.
TO WIN, SCORE GOALS: In their last eight games, the Penguins are 5-0 when they score a goal. They’re only 5-3 in that span, however, because of shutout losses to the Canucks, Predators and Capitals. Furthermore, over that stretch, they’re 4-0 when scoring the game’s first goal and 1-3 when giving up the first goal.
AGAIN: The Penguins are playing on back-to-back nights for the ninth time this season, and the second time in less than a week. They are 3-3-3 in the second game so far this season, and they’re 2-1-1 in games the day after a victory.
MINOR MATTERS: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (27-18-5, 2nd in AHL East) beat the Binghamton Senators 4-1 on Wednesday. Fourth-liners Dominic Uher, who had two goals and an assist, and Bobby Farnham, who had a goal and an assist led the way for the Penguins. Jeff Zatkoff made 26 saves to earn the victory, his first since December 31.
The Penguins are now just two points behind Hershey for the East Division lead, but the Bears have three games in hand. The AHL Penguins will host Portland on Friday and Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Faceoff for both games will be at 7:05 p.m.
The Wheeling Nailers (22-23, 5th in ECHL North) will host the Reading Royals Friday at 7:35 p.m. before traveling to Toledo, Ohio to take on the Walleye on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. The Nailers are in a four-team fight for the final two playoff spots in the North Division. Only three points separate third-place Cincinnati (46) with sixth-place Indy (43), with the Kalamazoo Wings (45) and the Nailers (44) sandwiched in between.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: No. 18 Robert Morris (20-5-5, 1st in AHC) is off this weekend, but they can still win their conference with a little outside help. If Bentley loses to or ties with Sacred Heart on Friday night and Canisius takes two or fewer points in their two games against Army this weekend, the Colonials will be guaranteed at least a share of the regular season title. The Colonials have already clinched a first-round bye in the postseason tournament.
No. 19 Penn State (15-7-4, 2nd in Big Ten) will travel to East Lansing, Michigan to take on the Michigan State Spartans this weekend. Friday’s 7:05 game will be available streaming at BTN2GO.com and Saturday night’s game (6:00) will be on the Big Ten Network. The Lions are 1-0-1 against the Spartans so far this season. The Spartans feature Pittsburgh-area native Jake Hildebrand in goal.
The Lions are holding on to the second spot and final first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament. They have a four-point lead on third-place Minnesota. Michigan State is six points back in fourth place.
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