The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to put an ugly weekend behind them and move on with a Metropolitan Division showdown with the struggling New Jersey Devils.
It will be fourth time the Penguins and Devils have played on Saint Patrick’s Day, and the third time in five years. The Penguins are 1-2 against the Devils on March 17, and they are 1-1 since the Devils unveiled their green-trimmed throwback jerseys that they will be wearing tonight.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: The New Jersey Devils have been out of contention for so long that even their head coach stopped watching. General manager Lou Lamoriello, who has also been the team’s acting head coach since he fired former head coach Peter DeBoer in December.
He has shared coaching duties with co-coaches Scott Stevens and Adam Oates, but last week, he decided to move from the behind the bench, back to his more familiar perch in the press box.
“I wanted to watch the game from a little different area just to see something a little different,” he said to Rich Chere of NJ.com.
After one game in the press box, he decided to move back to ice-level. Despite his team’s poor results this season, Lamoriello doesn’t seem to be in a rush to hire a new head coach for next season.
“We’re going to wait until, certainly the season is over,” he said. “There is no hurry to do it at this point. We’ll just make sure we get every possible option available before that decision is made.”
His Devils are 2-2-1 in their past five games, but haven’t played a team in playoff position in that stretch.
THE 4077: Sidney Crosby (illness) was able to suit up on Sunday, despite being a game-time decision. He showed no ill effects in his play, either, leading all Pens forwards with 22:02 of ice time.
Evgeni Malkin (lower body) did not take part in the team’s morning skate today and will not play this evening despite being characterized by Johnston as “day-to-day” on Monday.
Patric Hornqvist (lower body) will not play on this three-game road trip and is considered week-to-week.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING: The Penguins didn’t lose any ground on the New York Islanders despite going 0-2 over the weekend, as the Isles also have lost two straight games. They visit Western Conference power Chicago tonight.
The fourth-place Washington Capitals won back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday to bring themselves back to within two points of the third-place Penguins, but the Pens have two games in hand.
MINOR MATTERS: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (36-20-6, 2nd in AHL East) lost a classic trap game on Sunday, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Hartford Wolfpack. The Penguins had just beaten first place Hershey in back-to-back games after finally drawing to within three points of the first-place Bears.
Veteran goaltender Jeff Zatkoff continued to struggle, giving up four goals on 39 shots. He is now 0-2 with 10 goals against and a .851 save percentage in his last two games. Jayson Megna scored a goal for the third straight game and has five points in that span. Defensemen Alex Boak and Harrison Ruopp were sent down to Wheeling on Monday.
Wheeling (29-28-1, 5th in ECHL North) hosts first-place Toledo tonight at 7:05 p.m. at WesBanco Arena. The Nailers are just one point behind Cincinnati for the fourth and final playoff position. In addition to Boak and Ruopp, the Nailers also got two defensemen back from AHL Hamilton: David Makowski and Bobby Shea.
#CAWIDGEHAWKEY: Robert Morris (26-7-5, AHC #1 seed) is headed to Rochester, New York this weekend for their second consecutive trip to the Atlantic Hockey tournament’s semifinals. The Colonials will face in-state rivals, the Mercyhurst Lakers, at 5:05 p.m. on Friday at Blue Cross Arena.
The Colonials will do so ranked 20th in the nation in the USCHO.com poll, as they maintained their ranking for the eighth straight week.
Penn State (18-14-4, B1G #4 seed) will take on fifth-seeded Ohio State in the Big Ten quarterfinals at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The entire Big Ten conference tournament will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
On Monday, the Nittany Lions took home some individual hardware as Guy Gadowsky was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, among others.
Photo credit: NHL (Main) New Jersey Devils/Courtney Gfroerer (Inset)
