Penguins at Wild
Marc-Andre Fleury looks to continue his torrid stretch as the Pittsburgh Penguins vie for their fifth consecutive victory when they open a five-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Fleury earned NHL Third Star of the Week honors on Monday after posting back-to-back shutouts - a 36-save performance in a 3-0 victory over Los Angeles on Thursday before stopping all 18 shots he faced in a 5-0 triumph over Buffalo two nights later. While the netminder is riding a career-best 154-minute, 46-second shutout streak, Fleury is 0-5-0 with a 3.76 goals-against average in his career versus the Wild.
While Pittsburgh's top-ranked power play has gone a sizzling 10-for-21 during its winning streak, Minnesota became the last NHL team to score with the man advantage - doing so twice in a 4-1 victory over Dallas on Saturday. Thomas Vanek scored the initial power-play goal - his first tally of the season - as the Wild won their third straight overall and improved to 5-0-0 at Xcel Energy Center. "It's more of a relief than anything, I guess," Vanek said. "It was nice to break my streak and break our team's streak at the same time."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (7-2-1): Fleury wasn't the only member of the team to be honored by the league on Monday as reigning Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby was named the NHL's Second Star of the Month for October. The captain notched three assists versus the Sabres to claim the league lead with 18 points - including 10 on the power play to share top honors with teammate Evgeni Malkin. Speaking of the Russian, he has recorded a point in all 10 games to start the season and is five contests shy of Jaromir Jagr's frachise record.
ABOUT THE WILD (7-3-0): Zach Parise believes he knows a sure-fire way to keep Crosby and Malkin in check. "The best thing against guys like that is to make them spend long shifts in their own zone," Parise told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "That’s the frustrating thing when you play on a scoring line. When you find yourself in your own zone the whole night, it gets really frustrating." Parise, who knows a thing or two about offense, had two assists on Saturday and also set up a pair of goals in the teams' last meeting - a 4-0 win on April 5.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh D Olli Maatta will undergo treatment to remove a tumor from his thyroid gland on Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined for four weeks.
2. Minnesota LW Matt Cooke will not face his former team as he nurses a lower-body injury.
3. The Penguins recalled D Scott Harrington from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and sent RW Beau Bennett (knee) to the American Hockey League club for conditioning.