Bruce Boudreau knows this Penguins team very well.
Through stints dating back to 2007 with the Capitals, Ducks, and now the Wild, Boudreau has compiled an all-time career regular season record of 17-6-4 against the Penguins.
Despite Boudreau seemingly having the Penguins' number (well, except in the postseason) and the Penguins coming off of a hard-fought 2-1 road win over the Capitals, tonight's 7:08 p.m. matchup between the Penguins and Wild is not one Boudreau is taking lightly.
"You can look at it two ways," Boudreau said after the Wild's optional morning skate Thursday. "They've come off an emotional win, won two in a row, they're playing good and they feel good about themselves. Or you can look at it the other way as 'Hey, maybe they're tired, it's their fifth game in seven nights, blah blah blah.' I just know that they've got championship blood in their veins. ... They're going to play the best game they can."
Eric Staal said that the Wild will need be to be ready to play coming out of the gate.
"We're trying to get off to a good start and go after them," said Staal. "That's going to be our mindset. If we can get one, hopefully early, and build from there, we've got to try to take them out of it and do our best to get a good start."
Boudreau said the Penguins coming off such an intense win the night before will mean that they'll still be riding on that adrenaline coming into tonight's game. His keys tonight for his team, which has lost seven of its last 10 games, will be to score the first goal and to put pressure on Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.
"If you can shut down Malkin and Crosby you usually have a pretty good chance to win," said Boudreau. "But that's not an easy thing to do against these guys. You just got to pressure them and not give them any time. If you give them time and space, they're going to make plays and they're going to beat you. They've got just too much skill, they've had it for 10 years."
The Wild enter tonight's game with the league's No. 2 penalty kill at 85.7 percent, particularly due to the efforts of Marcus Foligno and former Penguin Eric Fehr. Boudreau credits Fehr's role on the 2016 Stanley Cup team as a reason for his success now.
"Winning a Cup sort of changes you," Boudreau said of Fehr. "It makes you understand what it's like to be a teammate on a winning team. You're willing to sacrifice an awful lot more than guys that have never had that happen to them."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Media notes
• Team statistics
• NHL scoreboard
• NHL standings
THE INJURIES
• Penguins: Jamie Oleksiak did not finish Wednesday's game after a fight with Tom Wilson. Mike Sullivan is expected to provide an update on his status at 5 p.m. ... Dominik Simon appears close to returning after skating Wednesday. … Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to be out until mid-February after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.
THE SKATE
• The Penguins did not hold a morning skate, and the Wild held a brief optional skate.
• Garrett Wilson was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Thursday morning, a sign that Simon is likely ready to play. Because Wilson cleared waivers on Wednesday, he will be eligible to play up to nine more games or spend up to 29 more days on the NHL roster before requiring further waivers.
• Devan Dubnyk will start in net for the Wild.
THE COMBINATIONS
• These were the Wild’s lines after their Wednesday practice:
Zucker - Staal - Granlund
Parise - Koivu - Niederreiter
Greenway - Coyle - Kunin
Foligno - Eriksson Ek - Fehr
THE SCHEDULE
Faceoff is at 7:08 p.m. With no morning skate, Sullivan will address the media at 5 p.m. Friday will be a travel day for the Penguins, and they are scheduled for a morning skate ahead of Saturday's 7:08 p.m. game in Carolina.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
To continue reading, log into your account:
