The Pens drop by Dallas after a dominating win over the Avs.
What an incredible win by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night! They downed the reigning Stanley Cup champs on their home ice in a completely unexpected showing after being on a brutal four-game losing streak.
Pittsburgh rebounded big in Colorado by a score of 5-2 and looked like a completely different team in the effort, a good team at that! The Pens hoisted themselves back up into the final Eastern Conference wildcard playoff spot as well. Now they move on to face the Stars in an immediate back-to-back scenario as they try to sweep this away trip to a pair of Central Division teams.
Dallas will not be an easy team to down, however. They're leading the Central and are exceptionally well-rounded. The Stars boast the fourth-best penalty kill (83.1%) in the league, the eighth-best powerplay (23.5%), and are the NHL's leading faceoff team at 54.8% in the circle for the year.
This is another national TV game being broadcast on ESPN in the US with a 9 PM (ET) start time back home in the Pittsburgh market.
***Updated as of 3:16PM, ET: In late-breaking news this afternoon the Penguins are going to have their work cut out for them even more, as goaltender Dustin Tokarski and forward Filip Hallander were recalled on an emergency basis. They'll be trucking it to Dallas from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. No word was given on who needs to be replaced but Coach Mike Sullivan will speak with the media at 7 PM Eastern, we'll have live reports on Twitter @PensReport.
Game Info:
Pens Game #72: Pittsburgh Penguins at Dallas Stars
Date: March 23, 2023
Time: 9 PM (ET)
Place: Dallas, TX
Venue: American Airlines Arena
Social Media Hashtags #: #LetsGoPens #TexasHockey
Broadcast Info:
National Broadcast: ESPN
Canadian Broadcasts: SN1, SNE, TVAS
Penguins Radio: 105.9 The X/Penguins Radio Network
Stars Radio: 96.7 The Ticket
Team Matchup:
Records- PIT: 35-26-10, DAL: 38-19-14
Last 10- PIT: 4-5-1, DAL: 6-3-1
Streaks- PIT: 1 Win, DAL: 1 Loss
Standings- PIT: 16th, DAL: 8th
Points- PIT: 80, DAL: 90
Playoff Positions-
PIT: Eastern Conference #8, 2nd Wildcard playoff spot.
DAL: Western Conference #3, 1st Central Division playoff spot.
Season Series- 1-0 PIT
Series Goals For- PIT: 2 (Joseph, Malkin), DAL: 1 (Hintz)
Team Analytics Comparison:
Goalie Matchup:
Projected starting goalies:
-Penguins Goalie TBA-
🆚
-Jake Oettinger- #29
[Dallas Stars]
Bio Info: 6' 5", 220 lbs. DOB: 12/18/1998 (24). From: Lakeville, MN.
Drafted: 2017- Rd 1, Pk 26 (DAL). Experience: 3rd Season.
Record: 30-10-11, 2.51 GAA, .917 SV%
Career vs. PIT: 1-1-0, 2.01 GAA, .926 SV%
Penguins Update:
Expect Casey DeSmith between the pipes if he's well enough from his illness earlier in the week. He was well enough to back-up Tristan Jarry in Colorado so all signs point to him being able to play on Thursday.
Congrats to the Captain! Sidney Crosby hit his milestone 30th goal against the Avalanche and added yet another accolade to his history-making resume in the process:
-Injury Report-
-Nick Bonino (F): LTIR, lacerated kidney, out until 4/4.
-Dmitry Kulikov (D): LTIR, lower body, out until 4/6.
-Jeff Petry (D): upper body, unknown.
-Marcus Pettersson (D): LTIR, lower body, week-to-week.
-Jan Rutta (D): lower body, week-to-week.
-Pens Lines-
The projected Penguins lines for Thursday, March 23, 2023, at the Dallas Stars:
(Forwards)
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Ryan Poehling- Mikael Granlund
Drew O’Connor - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
(Defense)
P.O. Joseph - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Chad Ruhwedel
Mark Friedman - Taylor Fedun
(Special Teams)
PP1: Letang, Malkin, Crosby, Rakell, Guentzel
PP2: Joseph, Zucker, Rust, Granlund, Carter
PK1: Poehling, Rust, Dumoulin, Ruhwedel
PK2: Granlund, Archibald, Friedman, Joseph
Stars Update:
The Stars will be without top forwards Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment for tonight. Seguin's out indefinitely with a lower-body injury, while Marchment is dealing with the same issue on a three to four week timeline. The duo has combined for 73 points this season so they're a significant loss in firepower for Dallas.
-Trade Deadline Movements-
Key players added: Forward- Evgenii Dadonov, Max Domi. Goalie- Dylan Wells.
Key players lost: Forward- Denis Gurianov, Jacob Peterson. Goalie- Anton Khudobin.
-Injury Report-
-Mason Marchment (F): lower body, out 3-4 weeks.
-Tyler Seguin (F): lower body, out indefinitely.
-Scott Wedgewood (G): undisclosed, day-to-day.
For The Penguins: P.O. Joseph. The Pens' rookie of the year has finally found his game again after getting knocked out of the lineup when the new trade acquisitions joined the team. "POJ" has points in two straight games and is currently manning the QB position on the second powerplay giving him an increased role that's especially suited to his strengths. He's showing stronger defensively as well, playing alongside Kris Letang on the top pairing. Invest in P.O. stocks right now because they're only going to go up from here.
For The Stars: Miro Heiskanen. You'll find defenseman Heiskanen disguising himself as an all-star caliber forward for Dallas. He fits that bill with the level of production he contributes. Miro's currently on an absolutely insane 11-game point streak. It's an astounding feat for any NHL player but simply mind-boggling for a defenseman. He has 19 points in those 11 games so be on the lookout as he tries to crack the 20-point mark against Pittsburgh.
