The Nashville Predators will look to continue fighting their way back up the standings tonight as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Some familiar names are at the top of the Penguins’ scoring list: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson. Jake Guentzel has also been a significant contributor, leading the team in assists (16) while coming in just behind Crosby in total points (23, to Crosby’s 24). Age hasn’t slowed Crosby down at all; he has a team-leading 13 goals, ahead of Malkin and Bryan Rust’s nine. Rust missed a few games to injury but will most likely be back today.
The Penguins have gotten excellent goaltending this year so far. Tristan Jarry has put up a .918 sv%, while backup Alex Nedeljkovic has a jaw-dropping .937 over four games, and former Preds prospect Magnus Hellberg has managed a .922 over three.
The exceptional goaltending has carried the Penguins through some of their woes, as has a strong penalty kill, but neither has been able to entirely compensate for their extremely poor shooting luck. This is a much more offensively-powerful team than the player tallies would suggest; they’re a considerable threat in the offensive zone, combining creative play with netfront presence. They’ve had the same problem on the power play, where a genuinely powerful offense just hasn’t been able to get anything going.
It’s a strange thing to say about a team that exploded for a ten-goal night less than a month ago, but the Penguins have been significantly underperforming. Guentzel, in particular, stands out; he’s had okay luck at even strength, but rotten luck on the power play. I got my start writing for On the Forecheck expecting that the Penguins’ streak of good luck would run out (it didn’t); I’d like to be just as wrong tonight about their streak of bad luck running out.
The game airs at 7 PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.