Tomorrow night the Penguins take on the Devils in front of the home crowd in Pittsburgh. We'll most likely be seeing Orpik (concussion) and Laraque (groin) on the bench, with Nasreddine and Ruutu in place for them respectively. Sydor (groin) is also listed as day to day, but is expected to play.
For years Martin Brodeur has been the name one automatically associates with the Devils. So far this year, he hasn't exactly been what some call 'sharp'. In fact, in an odd change of events, the Devils recently found themselves needing to score goals in a neck and neck competition, in addition to a prior shutout against the Panthers. In other words, it's been hard to rely heavily on the netminding and defensive core. Their most recent victory came over the Thrashers Saturday night, pulling out a 6-5 victory after at one point being down 4-2. Three of New Jersey's goals came on the powerplay, putting them at 3 for 7 on the night. From a Penguins perspective, this could be disasterous.
I think it goes without saying that with most games, the less time you spend in the box the better chance you have of winning. The Leafs took a lot of penalties the ther night against the Penguins, and frankly even the Penguins took more than a few against the Leafs. The big difference came in the Penguins keeping the Leafs scoreless on 6 powerplay attempts, while the Penguins' PP unit converted only once on seven attempts.
With that in mind, factor in the Penguins' most recent penalty kill with the Devils' most recent powerplay squad and it's hard to predict the outcome. Can the Penguins hold off on the penalty kill? Will the Devils be just as hot with the man advantage heading in to tomorrow's game? Unfortunately numbers can't decide that, and it's going to come down to Eaton blocking shots, deflections in front and most importantly, Fleury's performance in net.
A lot of people like to look at special teams as the main emphasis in a game, especially one as high scoring as the last Devils game. But consider this: the Devils only allowed one powerplay goal form the Thrashers. That means four of them came on even strength, which to me is even more impressive than scoring with the advantage. Even still, the special teams for the Devils is what won the game for them, with an Elias goal in the third with 28 seconds remaining in the 5-5 tie. So again, I may sound like I'm covering all ground here but it's still hard to say what will be the deciding factor in tomorrow's game.
What do I predict? Well, considering both of the Penguins' wins have come with 5 or more goals, I'm going to say it'll be high scoring. I don't expect another 52 shot attack on Brodeur because I think the Devils defense is much better than that of the Leafs. I feel that the Devils will get at least one on us with the man advantage, and I'm hoping that will be it.
Last year the Penguins did manage to shut the Devils out in New Jersey 3-0, but New Jersey would later turn that around and shut the Penguins out 1-0 in Pittsburgh. I don't expect a shutout from either team tomorrow, and will go with a final score of 5-3 Pittsburgh, with the fifth goal coming on the empty net.
Here's to another Pens victory, and hopefully a pain-free one for the already hobbling squad.
