The Penguins are heading into the game after a competitive win over the Islanders, 3-2. The Penguins dominated on the man advantage throughout the game and capitalised on poor defensive setups by the Islanders. Crosby is showing no signs of rust through his first two games finishing with a goal and an assist. On the other side of the state Philadelphia go into this game having lost 3 of their last 5 games with the most recent being a 5-4 loss against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
With Crosby back and the top two lines shuffled around the Penguins will need them to link and continue the good play shown against the Islanders. Crosby is riding a five game goal scoring streak dating back to the end of the 2015-16 regular season. He has already had a 7 game streak in early January. The Crosby line had 14 shots between them so that kind of pressure will be big.
Discipline is something that is lacking in the team. Malkin has been a prominent member at fault of this, committing weak penalties at key junctures in the game. The Penguins used to get in all sorts of trouble in rivalry games but under Sullivan they have improved. So far this season the Penguins are fourth in penalties conceded with 38. The penalty kill has not been good and currently sits at 80.0%. Philadelphia's powerplay is 5th best in the league at 26.5%. Staying out the box will be key.
Fleury has been announced as the starter and his record against Philadelphia in Wells Fargo isn't great, a SV% of .903% through 20 games and a GAA of 2.87. That isn't good and so far this season Fleury hasn't been as comfortable as he usually is. Steve Mason is likely to play tonight and has had a rough start to the season posting a .886SV% and 3.15 GAA. Shot volume on Mason is needed, to pressure Mason.
Tonights game starts at 7:00pm and the next match between the two is on the 26th February at Heinz Field as part of the Stadium Series.
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