Late Lineup Changes to Boost Offense?

Things may be looking up for the Penguins tonight.

Sidney Crosby took the morning skate today and pronounced himself fit to play tonight against the Blues.

His new linemate, Ruslan Fedotenko, wasn't so fortunate. He left the morning skate with an undisclosed injury and will not be in the lineup tonight.

He'll be replaced by Janne Pesonen, who was called up from Wilkes-Barre and will play his first game in the National Hockey League this evening. Pesonen was second in scoring for the baby Penguins (behind Chris Minard -- called up earlier in the week) and will get a chance to make an impact tonight, especially with the way the Penguins have been struggling.

Since Dupuis and now Fedotenko won't play, don't be surprised to see Pesonen playing alongside #87.

Also, Mark Eaton will be a healthy scratch tonight. Darryl Sydor will take his place in the lineup.

Personally, I think Eaton needs to take a game off. He hasn't been playing all that well lately. His regular partner, Kris Letang, also hasn't been playing that well, but given the absence of Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney on the blueline and the struggles the Penguins have had with their transition game, it's much harder to pull Letang out of there.

Hopefully these changes will give the Penguins a boost as they face the bluenotes tonight. If they don't win, it will be their 4th loss in a row. The Penguins have done a good job the last 2 years avoiding long losing streaks, which is a big reason why they've finished so high in the standings the last few years. They didn't lose more than 4 games in a row ALL of last year and, in fact, only had that happen one time.

LET'S GO PENS!