Pittsburgh Penguins: Odds and Ends Before Game 6

There have been a few questions swirling around the Pittsburgh Penguins leading up to game six against the Capitals. Miss any of the answers? They’re all here.

Happy Monday, Pens fans! I don’t know about you, but it feels like it’s been ages since we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Penguins in action. Since Saturday’s loss, we’ve had to survive on tidbits from practice and press conferences.

Did you miss any of the news in this (super lengthy) two day break from Pittsburgh hockey? There was quite a bit, actually – but never fear. On-ice and off-ice, it’s all here for you.

Murray or Fleury?

After the loss on Saturday, there were some rumblings about giving Marc-Andre Fleury the game six start instead of rookie Matt Murray. Today, head coach Mike Sullivan announced that the Penguins would be sticking with Murray.

There are good arguments for either goalie. Fleury is, of course, the guy who had a great regular season and helped the Penguins get this far; Murray has kept them in it and stolen more than a few games. On the other hand, Fleury hasn’t seen game action in about a month and a half and is probably rusty; but Murray, with so little experience at this level, might be overworked and under too much pressure.

Regardless, I agree with Sullivan’s choice – Murray deserves this start. He’s gotten to this point and his game on Saturday wasn’t really that bad. The whole team was a step behind the desperate Washington Capitals. Plus, if you benched a goalie every time they lost a game, you wouldn’t be able to find a single starter in the world, at any level.

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One thing the Pens players, especially the younger ones, like about Sullivan is how he approaches mistakes. If you’re experienced and should know better about things you’re messing up, he’s going to absolutely tear you apart. But if you’re still learning and developing, he’ll approach things differently – not punishing the player for an error.

That’s great coaching, in my book. He trusts his players to solve their issues and rebound. And that’s what Murray’s going to do tomorrow.

If, somehow, it goes to a game seven, then we might have to reexamine the issue and give Flower his chance.

What’s the Matter with Maatta?

What’s the matter with Olli Maatta? Well, luckily by this point, the answer seems to be “very little.”

Maatta was injured on a late, high hit from Brooks Orpik in game two of the series. He’s missed the games since then with an upper-body injury while Orpik’s missed the same amount with his suspension. Both could return to their respective benches tomorrow.

Maatta improved from a no-contact jersey at practice to being a full participant, ready to go. He’s had no setbacks and Sullivan’s pleased with what he sees from the defenseman. Officially, he’s termed a game-time decision for tomorrow.

At practice this morning, he was on the second defensive pairing with Trevor Daley – a step down from his usual matchup next to Kris Letang on the top pair. The lines and pairings have been shifted around a lot during games, especially the last one, so this may not mean much.

However, this shake-up might be good. Brian Dumoulin practiced on the top pair with Letang, which adds more size and – if not stay-at-home defending – at least more of an anchor on the back end. Maatta’s conditioning has never been an issue, but it still may help his play if he sees a little less time in his return.

He hasn’t exactly been playing up to his full potential this postseason, and switching things up may give him an opportunity to do that and click with a new partner.

Looking to the Conference Finals…

I’m not jinxing things, hopefully, but it’s worth looking to the next round of playoffs to see who the winner of this series will play. Last night, the Tampa Bay Lightning decisively eliminated the New York Islanders in a 4-0 victory. The Islanders admittedly looked horrible, but the Bolts dominated every aspect of the game.

They’re the first team in the league to move on to the third round of the playoffs, and will await the winner of the Pens-Caps series. Which, hopefully, will be the Penguins.

The Bolts will have longer to rest since it only took them five games to wrap things up, and they’re one of the few teams whose speed can match up well to the Penguins. Even missing Steven Stamkos and Anton Stralman, they’re intimidating – and they beat the Penguins all three times they met this season.

They never met this version of the Penguins, though. If we make it through to square off against them, it’s going to be a much harder-fought battle than any of those earlier games.

Next: Pens' AHL Affiliate Duking it out in the Playoffs

Geno Junior

Last but not least… Geno’s going to be a dad!

Several Russian media sources reported this past weekend that Evgeni Malkin and his fiancee Anna Kasterova are expecting a child. I can’t speak to the credibility of them – frankly, they’re probably just various versions of a Russian TMZ – but they all say the same thing, and that’s the important news.

There’s going to be a Geno Jr. Look out, hockey world – the 2035 Entry Draft Class has a storm coming.