It will be a battle of strength versus strength when the Penguins and the league’s top special teams units take on the top squad at five-on-five, the Minnesota Wild, in St. Paul tonight.
The Penguins’ power play is off to a roaring start, with a 41.9% success rate, which is first in the league. 18 of the Penguins 41 goals have been with a man advantage. The Wild penalty killers are fourth in the league with a 89.3% success rate.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The Wild’s power play is second to last in the league with a 6.4% success rate. That hasn’t stopped 
their offense from being productive. Minnesota has scored 31 goals at even strength, which leads the NHL and has accounted for 74% of their offense. At 4.1 and 3.4 goals per game respectively, Pittsburgh and Minnesota are first and third in the league in scoring.
The Wild have spread their scoring around, with 12 players tallying at least five points. They are lead by Zach Parise, who has four goals and six assists in ten games. 22 of the 23 skaters that have dressed for the Wild this season have a plus rating. Defenseman Christian Folin has the lone minus-1 rating.
Darcy Kuemper will get the start in goal for the Wild. Kuepmer, 24, has started eight of Minnesota’s first ten games and has a 6-2 record and a .930 save percentage. Kemper is 13-3 in his career at Xcel Energy Center with a .933 save percentage. He has never faced Pittsburgh.
BIG D: Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo will make his 2014-15 debut this evening. Bortuzzo had been sidelined with an injury suffered in a preseason game against the Wild.
“I’m very excited,” Bortuzzo said. “As a player, this is what you want to do, you want to play games and contribute to team wins. The team’s been doing some great things. I just want to hop in here and … make that easy transition.”
Bortuzzo has been called upon to replaced Olli Maatta on the roster. Maatta is scheduled to undergo surgery to remove a tumor on his thyroid glad this week. Bortuzzo will be paired with Christian Ehrhoff as the Penguins have shuffled their defensive pairings. Paul Martin will move the first pairing with Kris Letang, while Rob Scuderi and Simon Despres will remain together on the third pairing.
GREISS IN GOAL: Tomas Greiss will get his second start of the season for the Penguins. He was the tough-luck loser in a 4-3 overtime loss in Detroit in late October. He made 27 saves in that contest. The move comes as somewhat of a surprise becuse Marc-Andre Fleury has posted back-to-back shutouts.
“When you look at our schedule in November, we’ve got a busy schedule, 14 games in the month,” Head Coach Mike Johnston explained. “We want to make sure Fleury gets some rest time. Obviously, the back-to-backs this month are ones that we’ll split for sure, and then you’ve got to pick some other games where we think that [Greiss] will do well in. This is a great opportunity for him to face a very good team.”
Greiss has faced Minnesota three times in his career and has a 1-2 record with a .917 save percentage.
UP AND DOWN: The Penguins recalled defenseman Scott Harrington from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Monday. It is his third stint with the team, but he has yet to appear in a game. Johnston said on Monday that he hoped to get Harrington some game action this time.
Winger Beau Bennett will join the AHL Penguins for their three games this weekend. Bennett has been working with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar in addition to practicing with the team while rehabbing an ankle injury. Bennett was cleared for contact on Monday.
