Red Wings at Penguins
Playing without superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin clearly hampered the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday while the skidding Detroit Red Wings didn't have a convenient excuse for not showing up for their matinee performance. Crosby and Malkin are questionable to return to the ice on Sunday as the Penguins host the Red Wings in a battle of Eastern Conference teams jockeying for postseason position. The reigning Hart Trophy winner, Crosby was a late scratch due to illness and Malkin suffered an undisclosed injury following a hit from Boston's Chris Kelly early in the first period during Pittsburgh's 2-0 setback on Saturday.
Coach Mike Johnston did little to elaborate on the statuses of the two dynamic centers, but said "We think they might be able to play (Sunday)." While Pittsburgh admittedly was short-handed versus the Bruins, Detroit didn't show much fight en route to suffering its fourth loss in five games with a 7-2 setback at Philadelphia. Justin Abdelkader scored for the third straight contest and also netted the overtime winner in the club's 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh on Oct. 23.
TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, RSN
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (37-19-11): Coach Mike Babcock was none too pleased with his team's effort on Saturday and did little to mask his disappointment after the lopsided loss. "You come off it a little bit in this league and you can't win, and I think that's evident," Babcock said. "If this isn't an exclamation mark, I don't know what is." Captain Henrik Zetterberg had an assist for his eighth point in the last six contests, but is mired in a career-worst 15-game goal drought.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (39-19-10): Pittsburgh's ailing power play certainly wasn't helped by the absences of Crosby and Malkin. The Penguins mustered just four shots while failing on all three opportunities versus Boston, dropping to 1-for-18 with the man advantage in the last six games." Marc-Andre Fleury, who will get the start on Sunday, made 23 saves in a 4-1 win over Detroit on Feb. 11 and owns a 12-1-2 mark with two shutouts versus Atlantic Division representatives this season.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh resides two points behind the second-place New York Islanders in Metropolitan Division while Detroit holds a three-point lead over surging Boston for third place in the Atlantic.
2. Red Wings G Petr Mrazek has been confirmed to make his first start since yielding four goals on 17 shots against the Penguins on Feb. 11.
3. Detroit has scored one power-play goal in each of its last eight games.