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Wednesday, 08 December 2010 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Maple Leafs.

When and where: 7 p.m., Consol Energy Center.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, TSN, RDS.

Record: 10-12-4, 24 points. They are in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and last place in the Northeast Division.

Leading Scorers: Clarke MacArthur (right), 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists).

Last Game: 5-4 road shootout win against the Capitals, Monday. MacArthur scored two goals.

Last Game against the Penguins: 4-3 road win, Oct. 13. Matt Cooke had two assists for the Penguins

Maple Leafs Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: MacArthur. In his last 11 games against the Penguins, he has scored 11 points.

Ex-Penguins on the Maple Leafs: Colby Armstrong, RW; Tim Brent, C.

Ex-Maple Leafs on the Penguins: Tom Fitzgerald, assistant to the general manager.

Useless Maple Leafs Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Armstrong is one of two former Penguins who have worn No. 9 for the Maple Leafs. The other is Andy Bathgate.

Best Maple Leafs Video We Could Find: In honor of Marc-Andre Fleury admitting he was a fan of former Maple Leafs goaltender Felix "The Cat" Potvin fan yesterday, here's a goaltenders fight between Potvin and former Flyer Ron Hextall:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (12-6-1, 2.35 GAA, .912 SV%) for the Penguins and Jonas Gustavsson (4-7-2, 2.75 GAA, .908 SV%) for the Maple Leafs.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Evgeni Malkin (knee) is day to day. Forward Mike Comrie (undisclosed) is out. Forward Jordan Staal (hand) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Maple Leafs, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere (groin) is questionable. Forward Mike Brown (finger) and defenseman Dion Phaneuf (leg) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines during yesterday's practice were:

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Maxime Talbot -Arron Asham
Chris Conner - Mark Letestu - Tyler Kennedy
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Eric Godard

-Their primary defensive pairings for Monday's game against the Devils were:

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland

-The Maple Leafs' primary lines and defensive pairings at practice yesterday were:

Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Kris Versteeg - Phil Kessel - Colby Armstrong
Fredrik Sjostrom - Tyler Bozak - Nazem Kadri
Jay Rosehill - Tim Brent/John Mitchell - Colton Orr

Luke Schenn - Tomas Kaberle
Francois Beauchemin - Keith Aulie
Carl Gunnarsson - Mike Komisarek

Notes:

-The Penguins are patient.

-Sidney Crosby is kind of good.

-"You’ll probably want to tell your grandkids or have enough video or photos of yourself doing it to show them that you were there." - Kunitz on playing on a line with Crosby.

-"Crosby’s one of the toughest to play against because of his work ethic." - Schenn on Crosby.

-"You always have to be ready, but when he’s on the ice, anything can happen.” - Gustavsson on Crosby.

-Talbot has 49 career goals.

-Martin has 148 career assists.

-Crosby has 347 career assists.

-Kennedy has 47 career assists.

-Comrie has 197 career assists.

-The Maple Leafs are 7-2-1 when Armstrong is in the lineup. Without him, they are 3-10-3.

-Speaking of Armstrong, he's not a fan of Capitals forward Alexander Semin's fighting style.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Comments (3)

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written by agiesbrecht, December 08, 2010 - 01:19 PM

"That is the good news for Crosby. The bad news is that because his scoring jag began in November, the month in which many players grew mustaches in support of prostate cancer awareness, Crosby will, for the present, keep the facial fuzz that is about as thin as the New York Islanders defense."

Nice article on Crosby by SI's Michael Farber: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...index.html

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written by Bones, December 08, 2010 - 04:52 PM

Man, I love that video of Semin doing his Lars Ulrich impression.

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written by Luiz Mello, December 08, 2010 - 05:17 PM

Hehe. Colby Armstrong, always a fan favorite.

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