Pens Stunned At Home By Canucks
The Pittsburgh Penguins are not really playing like a team that has won back-to-back Stanley Cup Titles. They come into this game off a bad 5-2 home loss at the hands of the Canucks and have now lost four of their last six games and six of their last nine. Overall, they are now just 11-12 on the year and in 4th place in the Metro Division. They just seem a little bit off at the start of the year, but there is still plenty of time left in the year for them to get it corrected. Jake Guentzel had a solid rookie season and he was a huge reason why the Pens won the Stanley Cup last year. He scored both goals in the loss to the Canucks and now has eight goals on the year. Taking the loss for the Penguins was Matt Murray, who allowed four goals on 36 shot attempts to fall to 11-7 with a 2.88 GAA and a .907 save percentage on the year, while on the road he has gone 5-4 with a 3.42 GAA and a .883 save percentage. In his career, he has gone 25-14 with a 2.48 GAA on the road and 11-6 with a 2.32 GAA during the month of November, while against the Atlantic Division he has gone 15-5 with a 2.47 GAA, including 2-1 with a 2.67 GAA against the Bruins.
The Penguins have been rather poor on offense so far as they come in ranked 26th in the league in scoring at 2.65 gpg, while also ranking 2nd in shots taken (35.7 spg) and 4th in power play conversions, converting on 23.9% of their chances. At the defensive end of the ice, they have been very poor as they come in ranked 29th in goals allowed, giving up 3.43 gpg, while also ranking 14th in shots allowed (31.3 spg) and 26th in penalty kill, allowing teams to convert on 24.2% of their chances.
Bruins Take Down Devils In 11th Round Of Shootout
The Boston Bruins have missed the postseason the last couple of year and they have gotten off to a rather slow start this year, but they are starting to turn it around as they have now won their last three games in a row after beating New Jersey by 3-2 on Wednesday night. All three wins were on the road and now they are back home where they have gone just 5-5 so far. The win against the Devils was far from easy as it took 11 rounds of the shootout for them to win it. Getting the deciding goal was Charlie McAvoy. Scoring in regulation for the Bruins was Jake DeBrusk, which was his 5th of the year and Patrice Bergeron, which was his 5th of the year. Grabbing the win was Anton Khudobin, who stopped 40 of the 42 shots that he faced in the game to move to 6-2 with a 2.13 GAA and a .938 save percentage on the year, while he has gone 2-1 with a 2.96 GAA here at home. The Bruins may stick with him as he is the hot hand and in his career, he has gone 17-19 with a 2.42 GAA against the Metro Division, while against the Penguins in his career he has gone 1-2 with a 2.37 GAA. Tuukka Rask has gone 3-9 with a 2.89 and a .897 save percentage on the year, including 3-4 with a 2.56 GAA here at home. In his career, he has gone 38-34 with a 2.41 GAA against the Metro Division, while against the Penguins he has gone 9-8 with a 2.30 GAA.
Boston has been poor on offense so far as they rank 27th in the league in scoring at 2.65 gpg, while also ranking 20th in shots taken (30.8 spg) and 18th in power play conversions, converting on 18.8% of their chances. At the defensive end of the ice, they have been a bit above average as they come in ranked 14th in goals allowed, giving up 2.95 gpg, while also ranking 12th in shots allowed (31.2 spg) and 5th in penalty kill, allowing teams to convert on 15.2% of their chances.
Trends
Pittsburgh is:
- 38-17 in their last 55 after allowing five goals or more in their previous game
- 39-19 in their last 58 games following a loss of three or more goals
Boston is:
- 3-7 in their last 10 when their opponent allows five goals or more in their previous game
- 3-12 in their last 15 games playing on one days rest