The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Red Wings have both suffered inconsistencies throughout the season. Injuries have hurt both starting lineups over the past month. As they aim to gather up some momentum, the Penguins will try and take advantage of being the healthier team on Saturday night.
Pittsburgh is hoping to extend their win streak to their games, while the Red Wings are hoping to avoid their 12th loss in the last 14 games. Injuries have played the biggest role in the downfall of Detroit in recent weeks. Goalie Jimmy Howard is expected to miss the next two to four weeks after spraining a knee ligament in practice. Top forward Henrik Zetterberg is also going to miss time after suffering a herniated disc. He cannot even begin to practice until Dec. 28. Along with those two starters, Stephen Weiss, Darren Helm and Danny DeKeyser will be sitting out as well.
The Penguins are also hurting on the injury front. They will be without their three top defensemen. They have managed to stay on top of their division thanks to their offense which leads the Eastern Conference with at least 3.00 goals per game. Their defense continues to push through injuries, ranking fourth with just 2.21 goals allowed per game.
Sidney Crosby is once again on fire. He leads the league with 44 points, having notched at least one in the last 13 of 16 games. Evgeni Malkin is also streaking with a 10-game point streak. Facing Detroit's 14th ranked defense could create some big numbers for the stars.
Detroit has lost the last two games in shootouts which has killed any momentum they have tried to develop. However, the lead this matchup in all-time numbers, which could make things interesting.