Will The Penguins Become Predators In Nashville Tonight?

On a small roll where they've won 3 games in a row, 4 of their last 5, and are generally playing their best and most confident hockey of the young season thusfar, the Pittsburgh Penguins waltz into a place tonight where they've traditionally played very poorly -- Nashville -- to face a Predators squad that's one of only two teams in the league to have yet to lose in regulation (3-0-2) (8:00 PM EST).

The Penguins have lost a number of games in Nashville in recent years, and in fact, have only beaten the Predators 4 times in 13 tries since they came into the league.

Trying to help Pittsburgh get over that honkey-tonk hump tonight will be goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.  You remember him, right?  The Penguins' #1 goaltender who is 0-3 on the season with some of the most miserable statistics in the game -- and who has sat on the bench the last week and watched backup Brent Johnson start 3 games in 4 days and play very well in the process of winning all 3.

It's obviously going to be very interesting to see what #29 has to offer this evening.  If Nashville pops a couple behind Fleury early, it's not going to be good for his probably already-fragile confidence. 

And the goaltending controversy that has been just percolating under the surface so far will slide more towards the brew setting.

Make no mistake about one thing.  While most intelligent Penguins' observers realize and recognize that Fleury has to be the guy to lead the team to the promised land, and that his recent stretch of poor play is (thusfar, anyway) nothing more than a small blip on the radar of an 82-game regular season, many of those same people can't seem to grasp what message it was that Head Coach Dan Bylsma may have been sending to Fleury by going with BJ for three straight games despite them all being in a 4-night stretch.

The answer to that is simple.  There was no message to Fleury. 

Blysma was just trying to win games. 

Now.

Remember, the games now are worth the same 2 points that they're worth in March, and by starting Johnson in this last stretch, Bylsma was doing nothing other than relying on the hot hand and giving his team the best chance to win. 

Fleury simply hasn't had his MOJO since the beginning of the regular season.  Sure, you have to keep him in the mix and help him get it back at some point, but there's plenty of time for that.  And it may take Fleury weeks or a month or more to truly get back into the puck-stopping groove we're typically accustomed to seeing him in around here.

In the meantime, though, you owe it to the other 19 guys to go with the goaltender who you believe gives you the best chance to get a "W". 

Lately, that's undoubtedly been Johnson, and the Penguins are lucky to have a backup of his caliber.

Meanwhile, while Fleury will return to the net tonight, several of his injured teammates are also likely to return at some point during the Pens' curent 3 game trip to Nashville, St. Louis (Saturday) and Tampa (next Wednesday).

Defenseman Brooks Orpik is likely the closest to coming back.  Orpik has been dealing with a continued groin and abdominal injury.  He's been practicing with the team full bore for the last several days and, at this point, it's just a matter of #44 having his full timing back and getting as close to 100% as possible.

Another guy likely to return on this trip is winger Aaron Asham.  Like Orpik, Asham also has been skating and practicing full-go with the team.  #45 has yet to see regular season action in black-and-gold after suffering a shoulder injury in the Penguins' next-to-last pre-season game against the Chicago Blackhawks.  But Asham's been putting in additional time to test that shoulder more and more the last several days, and is only a game or two away from returning.

The last of the Penguins' walking wounded -- and maybe the most important -- Jordan Staal, has also been skating and practicing with his teammates the last two to three days.  Better yet, Staal has looked pretty good doing it. 

While his recovery from the severed tendon he suffered on his foot has been a long time in the making -- and complete with several setbacks -- his recovery and timetable for returning is finally accelerating. 

Rapidly.

While Staal probably won't be back on this road trip as he continues to strengthen his foot/leg and work on his on-ice conditioning, it shouldn't be too long after that before he gets back in the lineup.  Early November is not unreasonable for him at this point at all, and that would be an improvement from what I expected, since I didn't think he'd be back until the holidays (hopefully more Thanksgiving rather than Christmas). 

Good for #11.

Pittsburgh will have one thing going for them tonight.  While they're still a bit shorthanded, the Predators will be without key defenseman Ryan Suter for the contest. 

Suter is typically paired with Captain Shea Weber on Nashville's #1 D-pairing, but Suter suffered a lower body injury in the Predators' last game, and is out for a few games.

Let's hope the Penguins can take advantage of that and keep their streak going tonight. 

I'll have a recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!