After two days off, the Pittsburgh Penguins return to action Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators. The Penguins look to get back on track after dropping both games against the New Jersey Devils over the weekend. The Ottawa Senators enter Pittsburgh after defeating the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0, in the first game of their back-to-back. The shutout of the Sabres was Craig Anderson’s second of the season, tying him for the league lead.
When and where: Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh, PA); 7:00 p.m. et (ROOT Sports, TSN)
Season records: Penguins (8-5-0; 16 pts.); Senators (7-4-2; 16 pts.)
Season series: Penguins lead 1-0
Last meeting: Back on January 27, it took a shootout for the Penguins to put away the Senators, 2-1. The Penguins jumped out to a first period lead when James Neal snapped a wrist shot past Craig Anderson. Pittsburgh was able to hold the lead until the third period when Colin Greening beat Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game at one. In the shootout, Jason Spezza and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators. However, they were outdone by Neal, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin, who all were able to put pucks past Anderson to seal the victory.
Who to keep an eye on:
1. Kyle Turris: With four goals and seven assists, Turris leads the Senators in points with eleven. The twenty-three year old forward also has an assist in seven of his last ten games, but hasn’t scored a goal in nine. It could be said that he is due.
2. Erik Karlsson: Always a threat to produce when he is on the ice, Karlsson has six goals and four assists on the season. Karlsson likes to handle the puck, and has the skill to take the puck coast to coast.
Injuries:
Penguins: D Matt Niskanen (ankle), D Kris Letang (lower-body) **Both have returned to practice and are game-time decisions for tonight’s game**
Senators: C Jason Spezza (herniated disc in back), C Peter Regin (upper body), D Jared Cowen (hip), LW Guillaume Latendresse (head/whiplash)
Additional notes:
-It is Evgeni Malkin bobblehead night.
Projected lineups:
Penguins (via penguins.nhl.com)
14 Chris Kunitz (A)-87 Sidney Crosby (C)-9 Pascal Dupuis
17 Zach Boychuk-71 Evgeni Malkin (A)-18 James Neal
24 Matt Cooke-16 Brandon Sutter-48 Tyler Kennedy
10 Tanner Glass-46 Joe Vitale-27 Craig Adams
44 Brooks Orpik-7 Paul Martin
47 Simon Despres-58 Kris Letang
2 Matt Niskanen/41 Robert Bortuzzo-5 Deryk Engelland
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
Senators (via dailyfaceoff.com)
9 Milan Michalek-93 Mika Zibanejad-11 Daniel Alfresson (C)
14 Colin Greening-7 Kyle Turris-33 Jakob Silfverberg
22 Erik Condra-15 Zack Smith-25 Chris Neil
23 Kaspars Daugavins-24 Stephane Da Costa-18 Jim O’Brien
3 Marc Methot-65 Erik Karlsson
10 Mike Lundin-55 Sergei Gonchar
4 Chris Phillips (A)-61 Andre Benoit (via Ottawa Senators)
41 Craig Anderson
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