Game 36: Penguins at Devils

Ah, here we are. It's the annual visit to New Jersey for the Penguins. Seems like Pittsburgh plays a road game against the Devils around this time of the year each season, no?
Letang is a game-time decision tonight. Hornqvist is expected to be out for a few weeks.
Game day preview:
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.ht...id=DL|PIT|home
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Morning skate info
Scouting the Devils
Infograph game notes
Crosby, Malkin ready to lead
Start the day
MORNING SKATE INFO
All expected participants were on the ice for the Penguins' morning skate at Prudential Center, including defenseman Kris Letang, who missed practice yesterday as he's dealing with a bruise and is a game-time decision for tonight, and the recently recalled Dominik Uher and Brian Dumoulin.
The Pens started their morning skate with power-play breakouts. The first unit was Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, Pouliot and Letang. The second was Despres, Bortuzzo, Sutter, Spaling and Rust.
The other lines were Megna-Goc-Bennett, Klinkhammer-Ebbett-Farnham, and the remaining three D (Harrington, Scuderi and Dumoulin) rotated through.
--Michelle Crechiolo
CROSBY, MALKIN KNOW THEY MUST STEP UP
The Penguins suffered yet another big blow on Sunday when they learned that top-six winger Patric Hornqvist will be out the next few weeks after leaving Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury.
Hornqvist joins an already-long list of injured/sick players that includes defensemen Paul Martin, Christian Ehrhoff and Olli Maatta, forwards Craig Adams, Beau Bennett, Blake Comeau, Steve Downie, Pascal Dupuis, Zach Sill and Scott Wilson and goaltender Thomas Greiss.
But despite everything they’re dealing with – and it’s certainly a whole heck of a lot – the Penguins still have their core group of players in the lineup, headlined by franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And while those two can’t do it all themselves, they do know they’re the ones who have to step up and lead their team through all the injuries.
“It’s a bad loss yesterday (losing) ‘Horny,’” Malkin said. “Of course it’s a tough time right now, every game we lose a couple guys, but we still have a good team. ‘Flower’ (Marc-Andre Fleury) is playing very well and me, ‘Sid,’ ‘Kuni’ (Chris Kunitz) and ‘Tanger’ (Kris Letang), we just (need to) show how we can play.”
START THE DAY
Good morning from New Jersey! The Penguins are in Newark getting ready to play the Devils tonight at Prudential Center. Both teams have been dealing with rashes of the mumps. Steve Downie and Thomas Greiss are both out for Pittsburgh with the illness (Sidney Crosby, Beau Bennett and Olli Maatta all had it as well), while Patrik Elias and Michael Ryder were the third and fourth Devils to test positive for the disease on Saturday.
In addition, the Penguins suffered yet another loss when they learned yesterday that Patric Hornqvist would be out a few weeks with a lower-body injury. They've been dealing with a lot lately, but need to find a way to snap their three-game winless streak and get a couple of points tonight.
Here's a few notes to get you ready for tonight...
The Penguins play their final road game of the 2014 calendar year against the New Jersey Devils.

Tonight the Penguins are looking to end a four-game road winless stretch, although Pittsburgh has managed to get points in three of the four contests (0-1-3).
The Penguins also still possess the NHL’s top road points percentage (.688 pct.).

This year the Penguins have won both meetings against the Devils by a combined 9-3 score.

The Penguins scored a season-high eight goals on Oct. 28 at CONSOL Energy Center. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 29 shots he faced in a 1-0 Pittsburgh win on Dec. 2. Evgeni Malkin had the lone tally that night.

The Penguins are looking to end a four-game losing streak against the Devils here at the Prudential Center. Pittsburgh’s last win in this building was a 5-2 victory on March 17, 2012."