Weekend Preview

The Pens have two games this weekend starting with Carolina at Mellon Arena on Friday and Washington in D.C. Saturday night.

The tougher of the two games will be tonight against the Hurricanes. Carolina has been red hot this season accumulating 9 points in their first 6 games, two of those points in the Pens opener two weeks ago. They are 3-1 on the road so far this season and look to be one of the powerhouses of the East. They are relatively injury free and usually play a gritty, high tempo game which gives them the edge against the Pens.

The Caps look much improved over last season so far. With the Pens playing a game the night before and then having to go on the road the next night might prove to be a bit exhausting even though it's a short trip. Washington is 3-3 so far this young season but have only had 2 home games so far going 1-1 in those games. They've been bitten by the injury bug rather early having lost Semin, Eminger and Fehr to IR aleady. Kolzig has been his reliable self so far but has historically struggled against the Penguins.

For Pittsburgh to come out victorious in either game Marc Andre Fleury must play better. He has been one of the worst starting goaltenders in the league so far this season. He's been unable to control rebounds, goes down in the butterfly way to early allowing shots to go over his shoulders, and even lost his temper against the Devils on Wednesday night when the crease was invaded by New Jersey players crashing the net. Pens goaltending coach, Gilles Meloche was called into practice on Thursday to try and help Fleury through his issues which usually leads to a productive stretch of games for Marc but Meloche won't always be there. Fleury must get his mechanics and mental game together on his own to become the goaltender the he has to potential to be.

My prediction: Carolina in OT 3-2 and Pittsburgh over the Caps 5-2.