Lehtonen to start in goal Saturday

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Kari Lehtonen will get his first start in a Stars' uniform Saturday against the Penguins in a noon CT start.

He has a pretty good history against that team. As an Atlanta Thrashers goalie, Lehtonen was 6-2-2 against the Penguins with a 2.53 GAA and .922 save percentage.

He relieved Marty Turco on Thursday and allowed two goals on 16 shots. Coach Marc Crawford said it was good for Lehtonen to at least get his first NHL experience since April 11 of last year. Lehtonen has had two back surgeries in the off-season and was acquired by the Stars in a trade Feb. 9. He had played four games on a conditioning assignment in the minors.

``The good thing about last night was he got plus 35 minutes to see all of the subtleties of all the attention a goalie has to have during a penalty kill _ you can't simulate that the way game action does. Or the fatigue that sets in when you have to battle in the goal mouth for 30 or 40 seconds, that's really hard anaerobically for a goalie. So for him to get that intensity was certainly good.''

The practice today had a lot of drills in which the team focused very much on simple plays in transition. Get in hard on the forecheck and then hustle back into defensive position. It was almost like training camp, but it might be what the Stars need after the Olympic Break. Crawford also juggled the lines, and put Steve Ott on the top line in James Neal's place. The top line has struggled defensively on the road (and in the last two games at home), but Crawford said the shuffling was not directed at that need specifically. He said the only way to resolve the recent defensive woes is to work better and harder as a team.

Mike Modano had the day off to rest.

Lines were:

Ott-Richards-Eriksson
Morrow-Ribeiro-Segal
Neal-Benn-Lehtinen
Barch-Petersen-Brunnstrom

They make a certain amount of sense when you know that Pittsburgh will come with some very talented lines and that Brad Richards is a minus-19 on the road this season and that each player on the line is minus-4 in the last two games. This gives the Stars better balance defensively.

I'm not sure where Modano fits in, but my guess is Crawford will be juggling a lot no matter what.

 

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Scouting the Penguins


Ironically, they don't do anything that spectacular statistically.

They rank fifth in scoring at 3.06 goals per game, and that is impressive. But they rank 21st in goals against average at 2.88. They are plus-18 on goals scored this season. They are 20th on the power play at 17.3 percent and 11th on the penalty kill at 82.9 percent.

They do rank third in hits at 1,713, so they are more physical than you would expect, and they rank sixth in blocked shots at 977. However, with the three great centers in Crosby, Malkin and Staal, they rank 17th in faceoffs at 49.2 percent.

Hmmm.

That said, they just know how to win. They played with 11 forwards at Madison Square Garden Thursday and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was awful...yet, they still won 5-4 in overtime. That's just what the Penguins do.

In addition, they made two smart moves at the trade deadline, and now they are hyped to make a run at defending their Stanley Cup championship. GM Ray Shero got Alexei Ponikarovsky from Toronto and defenseman Jordan Leopold from Florida, and the Penguins believe both players make this team better.

Both should be in the lineup today, although former Stars winger Bill Guerin might be out with back spasms.

 

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Team Scope:

Stars -- After making his season debut in Thursday loss to St. Louis, Kari Lehtonen likely will make his first start of the season Saturday in Pittsburgh. It's a long time coming for Lehtonen, who before his 38-minute stint against the Blues, hadn't played since April 11, 2009. He had offseason back surgery, and has been working on conditioning and strengthening his back since being traded to the Stars on Feb. 9.

He stopped 14 of 16 shots against the Blues after he replaced Marty Turco in the second period.

"I thought he was fine," coach Marc Crawford said following the game. "One goal went in off of Stephane Robidas' skate. I thought he looked good. In the third he had to face some really good chances. He's a big goaltender, butterfly guy, fills up a lot of the net. I think it's positive that he got those important minutes for him.''

"It was fine," Lehtonen said of his back. "That part felt good. We were worried about that, but it turned out good. I try every five minutes anyway to get up from the seat and do a little stretching and move around, so I think that helped."

Penguins -- His visa issues finally sorted out, Alexei Ponikarovsky will make his Pittsburgh debut Saturday. He's expected to skate at left wing on a line centered by Malkin, with Ruslan Fedotenko making it an all-Russian language threesome. And Ponikarovsky and Fedotenko grew up playing together in Kiev, Ukraine.

"When you come to the team and there's some Russian guys, and Ukrainians as well, it helps a lot," Ponikarovsky said. "It's nice to have somebody that you can talk to in your native language."

Coach Dan Bylsma wouldn't commit to linemates for Ponikarovsky, saying Bill Guerin's availability could alter his plans. Regardless, he's looking forward to seeing his newest forward in action.

"I've seen quite a bit of his last few games," Bylsma said. "We're getting a big body, willing to go to the net. Every game I've seen him play he's made a real good play in the offensive zone or the neutral zone for his line to either get a goal or get good scoring chances. I think the surprising thing when you watch him, he's very conscious on the defensive side of the puck, as well. He works hard on both sides of the puck. That was probably the biggest surprise about his game."

Who's Hot -- Stars center Brad Richards has gone six games without a goal and has just 2 goals in his last 10 games, but that doesn't mean he's not producing -- he has 7 assists in that span. ? Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar had a pair of assists Thursday, pushing his scoring streak to five games.

Injury Report -- The Stars will be without forward Brian Sutherby, who is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. ? Guerin sat out Thursday's game with back spasms, and Bylsma said he'll be a game-time decision for the Penguins on Saturday.

Stat Pack -- The Penguins have won four straight against the Stars, a streak that dates to March 2, 2003. The Stars haven't won in Pittsburgh since Dec. 23, 2000.

Puck Drop -- Despite pulling goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period, after he allowed four goals on 12 shots, Bylsma said Fleury would be in net Saturday.

"I didn't feel like he was sharp and on his game," Bylsma said. "He hasn't seen a lot of pucks and he hasn't seen a lot of practice time. Marc's a great goalie, he's our No. 1 goalie and he's going to get back in there. In this situation I was maybe a little more aware of where he was at given the fact that he hadn't seen a lot of pucks or played a lot of game in the last two weeks."