Marleau Set for SJ Goodbye: Penguins Game Notes, Lines vs. Sharks

It will be an emotional goodbye Saturday night. Newly acquired Pittsburgh Penguins winger Patrick Marleau will likely play his final game in San Jose after playing more than 1500 games for the San Jose organization and scoring more than 1100 points over 20 years. The emotional ovation which awaits Marleau will be a lead-in to the Penguins hoping to end a five-game losing streak against San Jose at the SAP Center on Saturday.

The Penguins have slipped to third place in the Metropolitan division after Philadelphia won Friday. The good news, however, is the Penguins sit just a point shy of reclaiming second place and four out of first.

Besides preventing the current slump going further, the Penguins are looking to snap a three-game winless streak against the San Jose. They also have points in three of its last five visits to the SAP Center.

Martin Jones will start for San Jose after not playing since Thursday. The Penguins will turn to Tristan Jarry in net after Matt Murray started Friday. Jarry has done some of his best work over the course of the season against Western Conference opponents. He starts the day with a 12-2-1 record, 2.06 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and two shutouts against the West this year.

The Penguins could not correct course after they went down early and their rally fell short in a 3-2 loss to Anaheim, Friday. Despite outshooting and out chancing Anaheim, the Penguins squandered five of their six power plays and for the second straight game experienced defensive lapses. In a recurring theme of the current slump, the Penguins were down early after surrendering the opening goal in the first period. Danton Heinen scored off a centering feed from Kiefer Sherwood to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead with less than five minutes left in the period. The goal was Heinen’s first with Anaheim

Down by one, the Penguins wasted no time tying the game up, but a late period push by Anaheim washed away the Penguins effort. Jason Zucker continued his success with the Penguins since his acquisition with a goal 1:16 into the period. Zucker used position in front of the net to deflect his 18th of the year on the power play and throw the Penguins back into the mix. Anaheim, however, responded with two goals to take a two-goal lead as the intermission whistle sounded. Ryan Getzlaf fired a rebound in on the power play while Brendan Guhle received some puck luck with a shot that deflected off Zach Trotman.

The Penguins did add another goal late in the third to apply pressure but once again, it was too little too late. Jason Zucker fired a shot from the top of the circle, trimming the Penguins’ deficit to 3-2 with his second tally and putting him on the doorstep of the 20 goal plateau. Matt Murray started in net for the Penguins and played well despite bad luck and surrendering three goals. Murray stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced even though a few were heavily influenced by traffic. John Gibson got the win for Anaheim by making 28 saves. You can read more about the Penguins game in Dan’s Recap and the PHN Extra Report Card.

San Jose gave up the first two goals of the game but rallied and earned a 3-2 win in OT against New Jersey, Thursday. Travis Zajac and Nikita Gusev scored four minutes apart in the first period for New Jersey, but as a team went scoreless the rest of the way. Mario Ferraro and Marcus Sorensen scored in the second period for San Jose, but it was Logan Couture with the winner  38 seconds into the extra frame. Martin Jones outdueled Cory Schneider for the win by making 21 saves.

Notes

Patric Hornqvist faces a San Jose team he’s had success against throughout his career. Including his two goals against them on January 2, Hornqvist has 18 points (11G-7A) in 28 career games versus San Jose. His 11 goals and 28 points against them are the most among all Penguins skaters.

Patrick Marleau returns to San Jose less than a week after he was traded from the San Jose, a team he spent 20 of the past 22 seasons with. Additionally, Marleau served as their captain from 2003-09 and was an alternate captain for the team from 2002-03 and 2009-16. Marleau has played four games against his former team while he was in Toronto, recording one goal and one assist. Since being drafted by San Jose second overall in the 1997 NHL Draft, Marleau led the franchise in multiple categories.

Injuries

Pittsburgh Penguins

Nick Bjugstad (Core Muscle, Skating)

Brian Dumoulin (Ankle, IR)

John Marino (Cheek, 3 to 6 weeks)

Zach Aston-Reese (Lower body, week to week)

San Jose Sharks

Melker Karlsson (Lower body, Day to day)

Special Teams

Penguins Lines

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