Game Preview: Penguins At Canucks: The Madness I Hate

TRENDS

-3 of the last 4 games between these 2 teams have gone to a shootout. The Penguins won all 3 of the shootout games.

-The Penguins have won 4 of their last 5 vs Vancouver dating back to November 2010.

-Sidney Crosby has 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 3 games vs the Canucks. Vancouver managed to shut the Penguins out 3-0 earlier this season.

And now some hip stats from Covers.com:

• Penguins are 5-1 in their last 6 vs. Pacific.
• Penguins are 11-4 in their last 15 Saturday games.
• Penguins are 0-5 in their last 5 games playing on 0 days rest.
• Canucks are 9-1 in their last 10 vs. Metropolitan.
• Canucks are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. Eastern Conference.
• Canucks are 7-2 in their last 9 after allowing 5 goals or more in their previous game.
• Canucks are 5-2 in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
• Canucks are 7-3 in their last 10 games following a loss of 3 or more goals.
• Canucks are 2-5 in their last 7 home games.

I got one for ya: The Canucks are 5-5 on Hockey Night In Canada this season. I thought it was worse than that. (They did lose to the Leafs!) You know, the Leafs who have lost ELEVEN IN A FUCKING ROW!!!??? God help me.

The Penguins have won 2 in a row (Edmonton and Calgary). Crosby, to the delight of Pens fans, has 2 goals and 2 assists in those games. He's heating up. Prior to their 2 consecutive wins they had lost 6 of 7 games, with Crosby putting up "only" 3 goals and 2 assists in those games. Yeesh. What a sieve, hey? And you thought the Sedins had it bad. I hate Crosby and the Pens but I can sure give the Kid his dues, most of the time.

Since I have the Conch, let me say something. I love the 5 on 5 goals for/against stat. The Canucks suck at it. The Penguins do not. Keep that in mind when making your score prediction.

DAVID PERRON

Perron was a good acquisition by the Oilers at the time. But lo and behold he wanted out, and was traded to Pittsburgh. He totaled 33 goals and 76 points in 116 games with the Coilers. He now has 8 goals and 12 points in his first 14 games with the Penguins. He's getting top line minutes with Crosby. Watch out for this guy. 2 goals and 1 assist in his last 2 games.

INJURIES

PENGUINS: Ehrhoff, Dupuis, Maata, Comeau

CANUCKS: Richardson, Bieksa, Tanev (concussion), Corrado (illness) Higgins.....not sure what but if he's out then Zack Kassian is in.

LINE COMBOS (subject to change)

PENGUINS

CANUCKS

THE LAST MEETING

Unreal! A Sbisa fail in the first 20 seconds of the clip! Remember when Ryan Stanton destroyed Patrik Hornqvist like that? What was the last time you saw a Canuck do that? And how about the bottom 6 doing all the scoring in that 3-0 win? Take note, Sedins, Bonino, etc. Get your shit together or you will be destroyed by Shittsburgh in this one.

Yannik Weber on Friday's harsh practice by coach WD:

"We played Thursday night but we still have to bear down on certain drills. That's just what he wants. We're not out there for long and he just wants us to be intense so we're ready for Pittsburgh and not still sleeping."

I believe this is my fave Canucks-Pens moment from recent memory:

Is that beautiful or what?

The title of this post has been brought to you by the grossly underrated thrash band Testament:

Crank that shit! Feel the power!

GO CANUCKS GO!