The Pittsburgh Penguins will be completing game two of their four-game Western Canada (plus Seattle) road trip tonight as they take on the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena at 10:00 PM Eastern time.
The Penguins are currently 27-21-8, sitting seventh in the Metropolitan Division, while the Kraken are 25-22-11 and sitting sixth in the Pacific Division. The Penguins and Kraken are both currently seven points out of a playoff spot in their respective conferences.
As for your players to watch, keep an eye on Sidney Crosby for the Penguins and former Penguin Jared McCann for the Kraken. Crosby comes into tonight with two goals and six assists for eight points in his last five games, while McCann has four goals and four assists for eight points in that same span.
As for the goalies, the belief is Tristan Jarry will start for the Penguins, while Philipp Grubauer is the likely starter for the Kraken. If/when confirmed, Jarry will be coming into this game with a 17-17-4 record, a 2.57 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and six shutouts on the year. Grubauer enters this game with an 8-9-1 record, with a 2.97 goals against average and a .892 save percentage. However, if Alex Nedeljkovic starts, he comes into tonight with a 9-4-4 record, a 2.67 record, and a .915 save percentage, along with a shutout on the season.
Both of these teams are entering this game with a 5-4-1 record in their last ten games. The Penguins enter this game riding a three-game win streak, while the Kraken defeated the Boston Bruins in the shootout on Monday in their last contest.
This is the second and final matchup between these two teams for the year, as the Penguins took the first matchup 3-0 on January 15th in Pittsburgh.
As for the team stats, the Kraken come into this game with the 17th best power play, which is currently at 21%, while the Penguins 15% is currently the 28th best power play in the league. However, the Penguins 82% on the penalty kill is the eighth best, while the Kraken’s 79% is good enough for 20th in the NHL. The Penguins are currently leading the NHL in faceoff percentage, winning 55% of their draws, while the Kraken are currently 25th in the league with a 47%-win rate in the dots. As for goals per game, the Penguins are averaging three goals a game, which is good for the 20th-best in the league, while the Kraken are scoring an average of 2.76 goals per game, which puts them 28th in the NHL. As for goals against, the Penguins are only allowing 2.71 goals per game, which is the sixth best in the NHL, while the Kraken, who are allowing 2.84 goals per game, are in tenth.
This game is a crucial one for two teams trying to claw their way back into playoff spots with about two months of the regular season to go. Both teams will be desperate to get two points here and help turn their season around with so little time left.
