The Penguins played last night, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 thanks to big nights from role players Maxime Talbot and former Thrasher Pascal Dupuis. Even struggling Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all but one shot on net, though sixteen shots on goal is pretty pitiful coming from an offensive team like the Lightning. Pittsburgh will be putting Fleury back on ice tonight to face the Thrashers, according to DailyFaceOff.com. The Pens need to get him going, and if he's tired from last night, there's a problem.
Atlanta and Pittsburgh generally go back and forth in their games a lot, and while the Thrashers don't always win, the match-ups are always exciting. Who could forget what happened the last time these two teams met?
Matt Cooke vs. Evander Kane (via fcfightlog)
Sorry - I just enjoy bringing that up. Anyway, Dan Kamal reports that Bryan Little's back in tonight, and Jim Slater's the healthy scratch, probably to give him time to get un-sore from Thursday. Other than that that, the lines remain unchanged from Friday's practice:
Ladd-Peverley-Bergfors
Kane-Little-Stewart
Eager-Antropov-Modin
Boulton-Burmistrov-Thorburn
Ondrej Pavelec is in tonight off of a tremendous 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Despite last night's win, Fleury has not been playing well this season. Flower has a .860SV% and a 3.23 GAA, with only two wins. The Thrashers don't need to get too cocksure regarding Fleury, because he tends to play well against Atlanta Of course, Pavelec has a .931 SV% and a 2.34 GAA, so the Penguins shouldn't be too confident they'll win either.
Reminder again - there's an event at the Dome tonight that will clog parking and traffic. PLAN ACCORDINGLY. Me, I'm getting down there early with a book and a beer. The CNN Center is always open for business.