Pittsburgh Penguins v Anaheim Ducks Live

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Having won just four out of twelve up to this point, the Ducks are under considerable pressure to play up to their potential and make it back to the playoff mix. Most importantly, the defensive intensity of Teemu Selanne and company will have to get better as Anaheim allowed a whopping 3.5 goals per game. Thus, Ryan Getzlaf and the Anaheim Ducks will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at 3 a.m. GMT.

Considering that the Penguins regard themselves as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, the team around Sidney Crosby certainly failed to live up to its own expectations so far. More precisely, the franchise from Pennsylvania posted a 6-5-1 record in the first month of regular season play and often failed to close out contested games. Likewise, the Penguins struggled at home winning just two out of six games. Offensively, Pittsburgh was once again led by All-Star center Sidney Crosby who scored 6 goals and 15 points in 12 appearances. Taking the recent performance of the Penguins and Ducks into account, it looks like both teams might be on a level playing field on Saturday night.

You can watch all games of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.

Posted: 4th November 2009

Leading the Eastern Conference with 11 wins in 14 games, nearly everything has been going Pittsburgh’s way so far. Thus, the team around Evgeni Malkin will try to hold on to the positive momentum they built early in the season when the game between the Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins gets underway on Wednesday at 3 a.m. GMT.

In contrast, the Anaheim Ducks front office is not happy with the performance of coach Randy Carlyle’s squad in the first month of play. More specifically, the Ducks posted a mediocre 4-6-2 record to start the season and find themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference. While it is no secret that Ryan Getzlaf and company do not perform particularly well at the defensive end of the ice, it is somewhat surprising that the Ducks’ offense is not nearly as spectacular as last year. Albeit Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf combined for 26 points in 12 contests, Anaheim got very little offensive production off their role players so far. Similarly, the Ducks allowed 3.5 goals per game which might become an issue down the stretch, if their offense stays limited apart from Getzlaf and Perry that is.

The Pittsburgh Penguins on the other hand continued where they left off in their championship run last season. In fact, the Penguins look even more dangerous in this year’s NHL campaign as they managed to tighten up their defense while keeping up the extraordinary offense around franchise cornerstones Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Allowing only 2.07 goals per contest, All-Star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury did an exceptional job of taking pressure off the Penguins’ offense. That said, Pittsburgh had no problem finding the net as they scored 48 goals so far. Especially Crosby and Malkin were on fire in the first weeks of action, putting up 16 and 14 points respectively. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the Ducks will be able to prevent the Penguins from clinching their 12^th victory in 2009-10. Ultimately, it would take a significant defensive improvement in combination with a stellar night offensively to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a run for their money. Nonetheless, the audience can expect the Ducks to come out of the locker room highly motivated to bounce back from their unsatisfying season start on Wednesday night.

You can watch all games of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.