The Pittsburgh Penguins face the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning in their second game of the season.
After a commanding victory against the Arizona Coyotes, the Pittsburgh Penguins face a much tougher Tampa Bay Lightning team. Here are a few things to watch for in this prime time, Saturday night matchup.
1.) Take advantage of tired legs
The Penguins have a distinct advantage over Tampa Bay for one reason: they’re rested. The Lightning are playing their second of back-to-back games when they visit PPG Paints Arena. Coming off a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Lightning expect a tighter contest against the Penguins.
Meanwhile, the Penguins are coming off of a practice day. Look for the Lightning to spread their minutes a little more evenly to preserve their best players. The Penguins will need to take advantage of that. The big guns of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin should have plenty of opportunity to take over the game.
The Lightning also started their perennial Vezina Trophy candidate goalie in Columbus last night. It is likely the Penguins will see back up Brian Elliott rather than Andrei Vasilevskiy.
2.) Activate the fourth line
While Teddy Blueger remains considered day-to-day for the Penguins, the fourth line looked unimpressive in the season opening victory. Without Blueger, newcomers Ryan Poehling and Josh Archibald are looking to build chemistry with Brock McGinn to jumpstart this fourth line.
Archibald played with speed and grit in the Penguins’ victory over the Coyotes, but he’ll need to be more impactful in this game against the Lightning. The same can be said about Poehling and McGinn. While the other three lines all saw some success, the fourth line struggled. They have a new chance to right the ship against a difficult opponent.
3.) Early power play success
The Penguins power play looked in sync in their home opening victory. Granted, it was against the basement-dwelling Coyotes, but a hot start to the season is exactly what this special teams unit needs.
After the disappointing production of the Penguins’ power play last season, the team made it a priority to improve for this season. Through one game, they look to be on track. The Penguins had six power play opportunities and converted on two of them, with goals from Jake Guentzel and Malkin.
The power play needs to become a lethal threat again. With the amount of star power on their special teams, there is no excuse for them to finish 19th in the league like they did last season.
With Tampa Bay playing in a back-to-back, look for the fresh legs of the Penguins to draw some penalties against a tired Lightning team. And while the Lightning’s penalty kill is miles in front of the Coyotes’, the Penguins should get plenty of time to keep that early power play momentum going.
The Penguins meet the Lightning at PPG Paints Arena for a 7:00 pm face off. Make sure to check out Inside the Penguins post game coverage for more!
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