National Hockey League Updates – New Jersey Devils host the Pittsburgh Penguins
New Jersey Devils, bottom of the league will host the Pittsburgh Penguins this Thursday. This is the third meeting between the two teams with Pittsburgh Penguins winning the last two matches 3-1 and 2-1 respectively.
Sidney Crosby, Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins will be missing his seventh straight game of the season due to the concussion he sustained a few days back. The Pittsburgh Penguins line up will further be affected with the absence of another star player
in Evengi Malkin.
With the injuries for the Penguins talked about, let us see the statistics that show that Pittsburgh Penguins without a doubt do rely on these two players quite a lot. But the diversity in their squad has enabled them to come up with three consecutive wins
as they head into this match. This winning streak is despite Crosby missing the last six games and Evgeni Malkin missing the last five games.
However, now they well be playing the game against New Jersey Devils with their stars missing. But players like Jordan Staal have filled up their places and have come up with decent performances scoring a goal in each of the last three games he has played.
Another one of the players who have come up with good performance is Chris Kunitz who has also scored in each of his last three games. But if the Pittsburgh Penguins are eyeing the Stanley Cup players from everywhere need to contribute.
"It's going to be power-play minutes and a center position. It's going to be a bit of a challenge," Bylsma told reporters Wednesday in Pittsburgh. "Mark Letestu is going to have to play a bigger role. Chris Conner and lots of guys are going to have to play
more minutes to fill the void of the 20 minutes and the position that Geno plays for us."
Pittsburg Penguins have played 47 games so far in the season out of which they have won 29 games in regulation time, 4 in overtime and have scored 62 points. On the other hand, New Jersey Devils going through the worse campaign of their history have played
45 games winning only 13 games in regulation time, 3 in overtime scoring 29 points and are last in the league table.
New Jersey Devils are started to fins some momentum after a poor season so far. They had problems up front but these seemed to be sorted out as they have scored 18 goals in the last 4 games played. Furthermore, they have won three out of the last four games
and are gaining on the Edmonton Oilers with just six points between the two.
Though players like Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk have come up with good performance but a playoff position looks hard. Anyhow, if we consider the recent form of the team then they are surely one of those teams which can come up with an upset. Pittsburgh
Penguins need to be on their toes right from the start.
"I think the last few games have felt the best since we've been together," Zajac toldabout his developing chemistry with Kovalchuk. "I feel like we've gotten a lot more scoring chances the last few games. He's playing well right now at both ends of the ice
and that makes a big difference.”
The game is expected and surely will be an entertaining one with Pittsburgh Penguins predicted to win the match with the scores being close.
Tags: