[SBN Devils Blog - In Lou We Trust]
Marc-Andre Fleury's in the midst of an 8-0 hot streak as he goes up Martin Brodeur tonight at Mellon. Similarly the Devils are 4-0 on the road so far this year. In other words, something's got to break.
When the Penguins played the Hurricanes a lot of the talk focused around Cam Ward and Fleury, two goalies expected to make an impact on the Team Canada roster. Tonight's match up shouldn't be any different, as both Marty and MAF are expected to crack the roster. Marty, of course, appears to be the frontrunner in terms of talent, tenure in the league and experience in the Olympics.
With Marty and Fleury duking it out in net, the Pens will also have to work extra hard to crack a defense-first team under new (renewed?) head coach Jacques Lemaire. The Devils are ninth best in the league in shots allowed , giving up roughly 28 per (Pittsburgh is fourth best at 26.9). The area the Pens will look to capitalize is on the power play, where the Devils tend to be struggling a bit, killing off at a rate of only 76%.
Keep your eyes on Devils point leader Zach Parise (5g, 5a), Travis Zajac (4g, 4a) and Rob Niedermayer (2g, 4a). Also worth mentioning is right winger David Clarkson, a tough guy goal scorer similar to the likes of Ryan Malone. Clarkson can easily notch 20 goals this season and still amass over 140 PIM. He seems to be well on pace so far with two goals, four assists and 24 PIM.
Puck drops at 7:30. Game thread on tap as usual tonight around 7ish.