Red Wings vs. Penguins

                                                                                         

Detroit -190 vs. Pittsburgh

In a rematch of last spring's Stanley Cup Final, the Pittsburgh Penguins will head back to Joe Louis Arena for a regular season matchup Tuesday night. While the teams are quite familiar with each other from their six game championship series in late May and early June, the teams have not meant in the regular season since a 2-0 Red Wings victory in Detroit in 2006.

In addition to taking the Cup away from the Penguins, the Red Wings also snatched a Penguin. Marian Hossa is not the most loved person is Steel City these days as he chose to bolt from Pittsburgh, leaving an offer on the table to sign with the team that beat the Pens in the Finals, Detroit. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! For their part, Detroit is awfully glad he came.

Saturday night the road weary Red Wings (9-2-2) welcomed themselves back home with a 3-1 victory over New Jersey. The aforementioned Hossa netted two to propel Detroit to victory. The Red Wings went 4-1-1 on their western road trip to Chicago and frequent stops in California and Western Canada, which historically is usually a trip the Red Wings have trouble with. Hossa leads the Wings with 17 points on the season.

The Penguins (8-4-2) have had an interesting season full of ups and downs. Pittsburgh is looking to knock off Detroit not only for revenge but to extend their winning streak to four. Pittsburgh is trying to keep pace with its division leader, the Rangers who have 24 points to the Penguins 19. Prior to their three game winning streak, the Pens lost three in a row, which was preceded by another three game winning streak. During the most recent streak, Pittsburgh has scored an average of five goals.

While the offense flies high, the defense is a concern because they have also given up an average of 3.67 goals per game as well. Saturday night the Penguins beat the Islanders on the road in a shootout 4-3.

The Detroit Red Wings took two out of the three games played at Joe Louis Arena in the Finals. Their loss came when the Penguins scored with less than 30 seconds on the clock to stop the pending Detroit cup celebration. Pittsburgh outlasted Detroit in triple overtime, only to surrender the cup in the next game at Melon Arena. The last regular season game won by the Penguins in Detroit was in 2003.

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