Penguins at Red Wings
The Pittsburgh Penguins have plenty of work to do in the second half of the season to make the playoffs after winning two straight Stanley Cups and hope to finish the 2017 portion of the schedule with a road win against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. Pittsburgh woke up Saturday morning one point out of last place in the tight Metropolitan Division after a 2-1 loss at Carolina the night before and is 3-6-0 in its last nine games.
“I wish we had a quick fix that we could say or do that would solve everything,” Penguins defenseman Ian Cole told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work like that. We just need to look down deep and figure out if we want to win games or not.” The Penguins will likely be without top defenseman Kris Letang (lower-body) and No. 1 goalie Matt Murray (upper-body) again when they take on Detroit, which snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Friday. The Red Wings are also in need of a winning streak as they sit double-digit points out of third place in the Atlantic Division. “It’s nice to win, it’s nice to get two points,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg told reporters after Friday’s triumph. “But we’ve got to do it again and again and again.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (19-17-3): Captain Sidney Crosby has gone without a goal in five straight games after scoring eight in the previous 11 and was held to one or fewer shots on net in four of his past seven contests. Crosby is tied with Evgeni Malkin (four goals, last six games) for second on the team in points (35) - six behind leader Phil Kessel, who owns a team-high 16 goals. Former Red Wing center Riley Sheahan (11 points, 30 games with the Penguins) is the only Pittsburgh regular - who has played more than four games this season - that does not have a minus rating overall.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (14-16-7): Forward Andreas Athanasiou snapped a 15-game goal drought Friday and had a career-high eight shots on net after moving up to skate with Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar on the top line. “His work ethic and compete level have been good and he got rewarded with minutes,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told reporters of Athanasiou. “When he uses his speed away from the puck, he’s a very effective player.” Athanasiou took the spot of Anthony Mantha (team-best 13 goals), who missed Friday’s game reportedly because of a groin injury and is questionable for Sunday.
OVERTIME
1. Larkin leads the team with 31 points and boasts a goal and seven assists in his last seven contests.
2. Pittsburgh F Daniel Sprong, who scored twice in 18 NHL games as a rookie in 2015-16, was recalled Saturday after recording 28 points in 29 AHL games.
3. Detroit won the last two of three meetings in 2016-17, scoring 11 goals combined.