The Penguins begin a 6-game road trip tonight in Boston and if recent history is any indication there are better places to begin a road trip. In fact, there are better places to play a game, period. Like any other place.
That's because the Pens have lost their last 10 games in Boston, although they did at least take a point away from TD Bank Center earlier this season when they managed to lose in overtime, 3-2, after they'd rallied with a pair of third period goals to tie it.
The Pens last victory in Boston was also in overtime when Evgeni Malkin scored his second goal of the game to give them a 3-2 win. The coach in that game was the forgettable Mike Johnston. That means that Mike Sullivan – who played his high school and college hockey there – has not won a game in his hometown as a Penguins coach.
But Sullivan says those last 10 games in Boston have nothing to do with tonight. "For, I think tonight is a new experience, right?" Sullivan says, "it's a new opportunity regardless of what the history looks like. We've got an opportunity to control what's in front of us and that's the way we look at it.
"I don't think that what's happened in the past has any influence on our ability to perform moving forward. We're excited about the opportunity to play tonight and we gotta bring our best game."
Typically, a game against the Bruins means Sidney Crosby will see a lot of Team Canada linemate but NHL nemesis Patrice Bergeron, a 4-time Selke Award winner as the league's top defensive forward. Sullivan says current Boston coach Bruce Cassidy doesn't match Bergeron's line against Crosby's as much as predecessor Claude Julian but he's fine with whoever goes up against his captain.
"We usually welcome match-ups that are power against power because we like Sid's line," Sullivan says, "we think that line can play against anyone. We can't always control the match-ups as the visiting team but having said that our coaching staff doesn't shy away from any match-up against Crosby's line because we believe in them so much."
Branden Tanev, who has missed the last 6 games, took part in the optional morning skate, and will be a "game-time" decision but unless something crops up during the warm-up he is expected to return tonight. He was activated off the the Injured Reserve list Thursday afternoon.
Teddy Blueger, who has missed the last 8 games since he was cross-checked in the neck by Boston's Brad Marchand March 15th, also skated this morning but Sullivan says he will not play.
More encouraging Tristan Jarry news – Sullivan says Jarry is on the trip – although Casey DeSmith will start in goal tonight. DeSmith lost is only start against Boston this season but was outstanding, stopping 31 of 33 shots.
