Game 19- Penguins @ Atlanta Thrashers

The Atlanta Thrashers are not nearly as abysmal as they were last year, but they're still a well below average team that the Penguins should be able to handle, even on the road. A reasonable expectation is that between 4,000 and 8,000 Georgians will show up to watch the game from the Phillips Arena, so any home ice advantage for Atlanta should be totally out of play.

The sentimental significance of this game comes in the form of the first confrontation of the season between the Penguins and their many former teammates now playing for Atlanta. Former Penguins Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Johan Hedberg, and Chris Thorburn will all be in the Thrashers lineup for this one.

For Crosby and Armstrong, who were best friends and roommates during Armstrong's time with the Pens, this will mark the first time they have played against each other since Armstrong, Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and a first round draft pick were traded from Pittsburgh to Atlanta for Pascal Dupuis and Marian Hossa. Emotions will be running very high in this one, that's for sure.

Atlanta's top player this year has been young forward Bryan Little, an underrated scorer who has managed to fool NHL goalies this year. He is also an above average playmaker. Ilya Kovalchuk, or course, remains a lethal threat.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will look to bust out after having been shut down almost entirely by the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

It will most likely be Dany Sabourin against Ondrej Pavelec in goal. Marc-Andre Fleury is still ailing from an undisclosed injury.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Gill-Scuderi
Goligoski-Boucher

Sabourin

Thrashers-

Kovalchuk-Williams-Christensen
Kozlov-White-Little
Thorburn-Reasoner-Armstrong
Boulton-Slater-Perrin

Hainsey-Exelby
Oystrick-Enstrom
Valabik-Havelid

Pavelec

What's great about these lines is that you could take a player from the Penguins' third defensive pairing, and he'd be on the top pairing in Atlanta. You could also take two players from the Penguins' third offensive line who would be on Atlanta's top line. Oh, it's good to be a Pens fan.

GO PENS!
(and Steelers!)