Game 41- Atlanta Thrashers @ Penguins

Army and the boys from Atlanta visit the Penguins tonight at the Igloo at 7:30 on FSN. The lowly Thrashers are becoming known as the “Trashers” by the hockey world with their record of 13-22-5. This the third meeting between these two clubs this season: the Penguins are 2-0-0 against Atlanta this season. This is the first meeting at the Igloo…and considering the Penguins’ recent record on home ice, that fact makes me nervous.

Atlanta has lost 5 of its last 6 games (sound familiar?) and their head coach, John Anderson was recorded as saying that “our give-a-shit level was, like, at zero”. Look for the Thrashers to come out hard tonight. No one in the NHL likes to hear that said about them. Though Atlanta has not been playing well, their goalie, Kari Lehtonen is 6-1-2 in his career versus the Cardiac Kids (he was out with a stiff back during the first two contests with the Penguins this season). The goalie, however, is only as good as the defense in front of him, and the Thrashers have the worst-ranked defense in the league. Maybe Mad Max will get his first goal in 23 games? Hope so. Ilya Kovalchuk is pretty much the only scorer the Penguins really need to keep an eye on. He leads his team in points (39) with 13 goals and 26 assists.
The Penguins need to come out hard tonight. They need to play like this is life and death (because it is) and they cannot allow the first goal because then they will start thinking too much and playing slower hockey. The Penguins, however, have proven that they can win with either Fleury or Sabourin in net and our defense, though not shining, has had some bright points lately (Eaton, anyone?). Usually, here’s where I’d write something like “if the Penguins get the opportunities, they’ll score”, but, right now, it looks like they can’t even do that. We’ll see.

Zigomanis and Gonchar are both still out for the Penguins. Eight healthy defensemen means two healthy scratches. Alex Goligoski and Hal Gill will be sitting in the press box for the second straight game along with forward Eric Godard. Meanwhile, the Thrashers lost one of their star scorers, Bryan Little, to a rib contusion in their last game. Exelby is still out with a fracture in his right leg.

Penguins-

Kennedy-Crosby-Dupuis
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Talbot-Staal-Cooke
Wallace-Jeffery-Satan

Orpik-Whitney
Eaton-Boucher
Scuderi-Letang

Fleury

Thrashers-

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

Hainsey-Schneider
Valabik-Havelid
Enstrom-Orpik

Lehtonen

LET'S GO PENS!