Game 74 - Pens at Sens

1900

ROOT Sports Pittsburgh

While not a championship game in the least, the Penguins have a great opportunity tonight.  That opportunity is to move into first place in the Eastern Conference with seven games left this season.  Here's a look at the standings:

The Penguins have one game in hand on the Rangers, who play at the Maple Leafs tonight.  The Maple Leafs suck, so the Pens will probably still be in fourth after tonight.  Still, it is fascinating, since not too long ago the Pens were 10 points out of first place.


Last time the Penguins play the Senators, it was possibly the worst showing of the season, as they lost 5-1.  We were at that game, and it was possibly the worst showing that this team has had in a long time.  This was also the fourth game of the five game losing streak that culminated in Dejan Kovacevic's article about Crosby deserving better with dark times surrounding the team and an apparent team meeting discussing stripping Sid of the captaincy.  The Pens have gone something like 26-4-1 since then and are currently on a 14 game point streak. 

Ottawa is coming into tonight's game sitting 7th in the East, only two points up on Buffalo and Washington for 8th.  Expect them to be a bit more desperate than the Pens tonight.

Matt Niskanen and Joe Vitale are both out tonight due to upper body injuries.

Here are the lines for tonight's game:

Pens

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Sidney Crosby - Tyler Kennedy
Eric Tangradi - Craig Adams - Arron Asham

Kris Letang - Paul Martin
Brooks Orpik - Zbynek Michalek
Ben Lovejoy - Deryk Engelland

Brad Thiessen

Sens

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Colin Greening
Zack Smith - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Jim O'Brien - Chris Neil
Rob Klinkhammer - Kasars Daugavins - Erik Condra

Erik Karlsson - Filip Kuba
Sergei Gonchar - Jared Cowen
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Ben Bishop

Go Pens