Can Stella, I Mean the Penguins Get Their Groove Back??

It seems like something has been missing for the Penguins over the last couple weeks. After winning 4 in a row earlier in the month, they have now lost 4. The team has drifted 7 points behind the Atlantic Division leading Devils. The team has gotten into the horrible habit of putting together winning streaks only to match them with equally long losing streaks. The Penguins have to be looking at themselves in the mirror and saying, "I lost me mojo."

Back to back games against the Devils and Thrashers is no way to get on tracked but they are going to have to make the best of it. After dropping last night's game in New Jersey, the Penguins will have to find a way to contain Kovalchuk, Hossa and Kozlov. Something that they have had difficulty with in the past.

Marc Andre Fleury will get the start in goal. He is coming off of a strong performance against his idol, Marty Brodeur, but will have to be on top of his game again tonight. Atlanta's snipers will be firing rubber at him from all angles. Sometimes you need your goaltender to pull you out of these mini slumps and that is what they need from Fleury tonight.

Michel Therrien was starting to get a bit more consistent with his line shuffling during the winning streak, but he has since begun to tinker with them on a nightly basis again. After splitting Sidney Crosby and Mark Recchi last night, he will put them back together tonight. The lines will looks something like this:

Crosby, Recchi, Malone
Malkin, Christensen, Armstrong
Staal, Ekman, Ouellet
Talbot, Ruutu, Thorburn

Let's hope that these combinations can get gel and generate some offense. They couldn't seem to get anything sustained going against Brooder last night and will face another great goaltender in Kari Lehtonen tonight.

The schedule gets no easier for the Flightless Bird in the coming weeks, as they face Toronto, Carolina, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay twice. All of these opponents give the Penguins major headaches.