Penguins At Canucks: Slave To The Grind

Time	Tuesday, 7:00 PST	TV	TSN
Season Series	1-0 Penguins	Last Meeting	4-3 Penguins Oct.19/13
The Enemy	PensBurgh, The Pensblog	Scoring Leaders	D. Sedin: 13-26-39 Crosby: 23-40-63

PENGUINS	CATEGORY	CANUCKS
31-12-1	SEASON RECORD	23-13-8
63	POINTS	54
1st	CONFERENCE POSITION	7th
Won 2	STREAK	Lost 4
8-2-0	LAST 10	4-3-3
12-9-1	ROAD RECORD / HOME RECORD	11-6-4
1.09 (10)	5 ON 5 GF / GA	1.05 (11)
26.0 (1)	POWER PLAY %	15.9 (22)
88.6 (2)	PENALTY KILL %	88.9 (1)
51.5 (9)	FACEOFF WINS %	50.9 (15)
1134 (6)	HITS	839 (26)
697 (4)	BLOCKED SHOTS	671 (8)
154 (12)	MINOR PENALTIES TAKEN	151 (11)
NHL.COM

GOTTA HAVE FAITH FAITH FAITH

The Canucks' 4 game skid, in which they at least have a total of 2 points accounted for, has them in 7th spot in the Western Conference, 5 points up on Phoenix and Minnesota, 2 teams that aren't going to catch the Canucks anyway, right? Right? How's your faith these days? The green and blue gods are dragging you through the desert aren't they? Well the path through the sand doesn't get any easier.

Pittsburgh is the top dog team in the East and statistically sound if you look at the table above. They just got Malkin and Letang back last game in a 6-5 win over the Jets. That was the 5th time this season they have given up 5 goals. Not like it really matters though. I like that 12-9-1 road record of theirs though, it means the Canucks have a chance to take this one after that shitty trip in California. The Pens are 2-2 in their last 4 games on the road.

Here's what happened the last time the Pens were in Vancouver (October 6, 2011):

Jeez look at all the time and space the Sedins and Burrows were given...

The Canucks are 0-1-2 in their last 3 against the Pens. Their last win against Sid and Co. was a 6-2 smackdown on January 16, 2010. That was 4 games ago. Yea, 4 games against the Pens in the last 4 years. What a sin. That was the game that the Pens pulled their 3rd string goalie when the Canucks made it 5-1 and put in some guy named Alexander Pechurski from Tri-City of the WHL. Check out the extended highlights of that game here.

Of course, probably the most memorable Pens - Canucks moment was this:

God bless Tommy Larscheid. Is that beautiful passion for this team / game or WHAT?

I don't give 2 shits what the Canucks did in California. Teams go through ups and downs, and I think Torts rattled their skulls after the Ducks loss. That team defence was so bad that I swear it couldn't get any worse. It is going to be better against Pittsburgh. These guys will adjust. There will be more consistent forechecking and energy and grinding from the forwards. It will be interesting to see if Tom Sestitio can continue to make a difference on the power play. I guess he'll have to avoid fighting majors, right? But it sure as hell worked wonders planting his carcass in front of the opposing netminder last game.

ROSTERS

For the Pens:

Kunitz - Crosby - Brian Gibbons

Jokinen - Malkin - Neal (Tore the Jets a new a**hole last game)

Taylor Pyatt - Brandon Sutter - Joey Vitale

Glass - Zach Sill - Adams

Scuderi - Letang

Engelland - Asshole Orpik

Maatta - Niskanen

Fleury

Pyatt and Glass...I'm gonna get some flashbacks.

For the Canucks:

Who the hell knows? Luongo is out 1-2 weeks with a sore ankle, so the team recalled Joacim Eriksson again. Is Higgins healthy after a bout with the flu? Do we really like Hansen with the Sedins? No we don't. Is Kassian ok after taking Sweet Chin Music from Sestito?

Perfect execution. Did you know that Zack and Tommy fought once?

Boom! Down for the count!

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS UPDATE

I was the only one to call a 4-3 Ducks win for not only the 2-pointer, but the lead in the standings, b*tches! I love winning!

Zanstorm: 14

gmonk33: 13

FormerHab: 12

marcness52: 12

Nathaniel Perlow: 12

Passive Voice: 12

Bobby Canuck: 11

Coach Ryan: 11

Geordie Nuck: 11

Tengeresz: 10

Twitchy2010: 10

nucksandpucks: 9

Azzy Mahmood: 8

vancitydan: 8

westy99: 8

itsahardknocklife: 7

jwolf0: 6

Nose_Face: 6

seedvt: 6

Nathan k: 5

BigPDog: 4

Tim Burke: 4

AK_nuk: 3

canuck89: 3

Brock: 2

bygfeete: 2

ChuckinNux: 2

hookedoncanuck: 2

John Carroll: 2

kiwinuck: 2

prairienucker: 2

Smoboy41: 2

Vancouverguy: 2

CombattlerV: 1

Kent Basky: 1

Puckhead1: 1

thesporteditor: 1

The title of this preview post has been brought to you by Skid Row:

GO CANUCKS GO!