Young stars Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos go head-to-head
Two division leaders go head-to-head on Wednesday night when the Southeast Division leading Tampa Bay Lightning play host to the Atlantic Division leaders, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Previous meetings and recent games
Last season the Penguins and Lightning split their series 2-2.
The Penguins suffered an overtime loss in their most recent game when they came up against a hot goalie in the form of St. Louis Blues' Jaroslav Halak. Before that they had won four games in a row.
The Lightning also lost their most recent game when they fell 4-3 to the Nashville Predators. The Lightning opened the season with three straight wins, but since then are 2-2-1.
How they match up
This is the first meeting of the season between two former first overall draft picks in Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning. Crosby has a slight edge statistically over Stamkos after having played in three more seasons and
winning a Stanley Cup two seasons ago. But Stamkos has made a steady rise in the NHL after a mediocre rookie season and tied Sidney Crosby last season for the league lead in goals with 51. So far this season, Stamkos is off to a tremendous start averaging
almost two points per game. He leads the league in points with 15, and in goals with 8. Stamkos has a full four points more than Sidney Crosby who sits tied for second in the NHL with 11 points, but has played in one more game.
Crosby, however, may benefit from having a better supporting crew. Brent Johnson has been outstanding in goal for Pittsburgh since replacing Marc-Andre Fleury, and is ranked in the top five in the NHL in both goals against average and save percentage.
The Penguins have also been getting points from their defencemen. Kris Letang (8 points), Paul Martin (7 points), and Alex Goligoski (7 points) all rank in the top 10 in scoring amonst defenceman.
The Penguins also have Evgeni Malkin who has been comparatively quiet with eight points in nine games this season, and rookie Mark Letestu who is off to a strong start scoring four goals – two of them game winners.
Aside from Martin St. Louis' nine points in eight games, and third-line center Dominic Moore's surprising four goals so far this season, Stamkos has been a virtual one-man show.
Goaltenders Mike Smith and Dan Ellis have split the duties between the pipes but neither's numbers have been very good as they rely on Stamkos to score more goals than they allow. The Lightning currently rank first overall in goals per game, but they also
rank 26th in goals allowed.
Vincent Lecavalier has also been on a cold streak with only two goals and four points so far this season.
What to expect
Two high-powered offences will be on display and will have their chance to show off what they can do, but for all the Lightning's scoring abilities they have had a rough time trying to keep the puck out of their own net. The Penguins, on the other hand,
have begun to look solid in both ends of the rink.
Despite the Lightning's home ice advantage, the Penguins are just a better team. Up until the overtime loss to the Blues they were also undefeated on the road.
Penguins win 5-2.
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