Game 35- Penguins @ New Jersey Devils

The Penguins will look to rebound tonight from what was one of their worst performances of the season, a 2-0 loss at home to the cellar dwellers of the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning. If they're to do that, they'll have to beat the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center, a beautiful arena in the heart of Newark that will likely be about 45 percent full for this great divisional matchup. Hopefully, the Devils fans will come out for this one, but it would seem unlikely.

As was mentioned earlier, the Penguins are playing a pretty bad brand of hockey these days, and it's about time they stopped. To help the squad bust out, Tyler Kennedy and/or Mike Zigomanis will be returning from injuries that have kept them out for almost the entire month of December.

The Pens have been lagging in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill, so if Zigomanis is to return for this game, it will be a huge relief. Popular speculation is that he will be playing, but some are less sure of Kennedy's status.

The Pens demoted forwards Jeff Taffe and Tim Wallace to Wilkes Barre yesterday, leaving two holes in their lineup. Someone is either getting called up again, a trade is being made, or Kennedy and Zigomanis are coming back. Presumably, the reality is the latter.

The Devils are still without future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur, but backup Scott Clemmensen, who signed on with the Devils this summer expecting to spend his year with the AHL Lowell Devils. By some miracle, he has been just outstanding, showing flashes of brilliance he hasn't shown before in years of professional hockey. He's 11-4-1 with a 2.22 goals against average in 17 games played with one no-decision, numbers that are much better than what Brodeur put up in his 10 games before sucumbing to an elbow injury.

Hal Gill would seem to still be out for the Penguins, along with possibly Kennedy and/or Zigomanis. Sergei Gonchar, of course, is still on injured reserve.

The team has now announced that Paul Bissonnette and Dustin Jeffrey have been recalled from Wilkes Barre/ Scranton for the contest. They will join the team prior to puck drop at 7:08 PM.

Brodeur is out for the Devils, and defenseman Bryce Salvador's status is uncertain.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik Scuderi
Letang-Whitney
Boucher-Goligoski

Fleury

Devils-

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Elias-Zubrus-Gionta
Rolston-Holik-Clarkson
Pandolfo-Madden-Rupp

Oduya-Martin
White-Leach
Greene-Mottau

Clemmensen

GO PENS!