Pens Points: Zuckerburgh

Less than a week after meeting in Tampa Bay, the Penguins welcome the Lightning to Pittsburgh to wrap up the season set between the two teams at PPG Paints Arena. After dropping two games against the Lightning in Tampa Bay this season, the Penguins will hope home ice is just as favorable to them when they face-off tonight.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on AT&T Sports Network.

Get your game face on with today’s team news in Pens Points...

It was approximately 8:15 PM on Monday night when TSN’s Bob McKenzie notified the hockey world that the Penguins acquired Jason Zucker from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Alex Galchenyuk, Calen Addison, and a 1st round pick. [Pensburgh]

Almost as soon as the Zucker deal was reported and making its way around social media, everyone chimed in with their own thoughts on the deal. Most reaction was positive, from both fans and hockey media members. [Pensburgh]

Monday was the first time the Penguins were back together on the ice since returning from their Florida road trip and with it came good and bad news. Injured guys like Brian Dumoulin and Dominik Kahun are progressing, while John Marino will go under the knife. [Pensburgh]

Wins are wins and the Penguins will take them any way they can get them as they still battle through injuries. While the points are still being stacked in the standings, there are some underlying issues that need addressing. [Pensburgh]

Losing John Marino for any extended time is not ideal for the Penguins, but they will continue to fight on. Given the likely return of both Marino and Brian Dumoulin down the road, the Penguins will not deviate from their trade deadline plan. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

After stops in Vancouver and Florida to begin his NHL career, Jared McCann landed in Pittsburgh last season and has plans on making the city and the Penguins his home for many years to come. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

McCann has been in a bit of a scoring rut lately and late in Saturday’s game against the Panthers, Mike Sullivan bumped him up alongside Evgeni Malkin. With Bryan Rust on the other win, McCann will get an extended look on the second line. [Trib Live]

One area the Penguins have not been decimated by injuries this season is in the goal crease. Even still, with Matt Murray playing inconsistent up until the past month, the Penguins have relied on Tristan Jarry to carry the load. [The Hockey Writers]

News and notes from around the NHL...

Elvis Merzlikins is making Blue Jackets fans forget all about Sergei Bobrovsky this season. Merzlikins was named the NHL’s “First Star of the Week” after going 2-1-0 last week with two shutouts, beating out Kyle Connor and Andrei Vasilevskiy for the top spot. [NHL]

Across hockey social media over the weekend, discussion took place on the level of abuse Canucks superstar Elias Pettersson underwent in a recent game. This raised the question about if the league was doing enough to protect its best players. [The Hockey News]

It takes a certain level of skill to pull off a “lacrosse goal” in the NHL, but it takes even more skill for a goaltender to stop it. For fans, the lacrosse goals are tremendous to watch, but for goaltenders, they are a nightmare to defend. [CBC]