Game 70 Preview: Albany Devils @ WBS Penguins

The Penguins won't have two of the three Penguins shown in this picture for tonight's game against Albany, but at 7-0 against the Devils this season, the Pens will have to keep doing what they have been doing against Albany if they want to win.

The Road to a Season Sweep
The WBS Penguins will look to win all eight games against the Albany Devils with their final meeting of the season tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena.  The Pens magic number to clinch the division is seven points heading into Wednesday's action. Meanwhile Albany, much like the NHL Devils, got off to a slow start but have been playing a lot better towards the end of the 2010-11 campaign.

The Basics
Albany Devils, 30-35-1-3, 64 points, 6th East Division
WBS Penguins, 40-18-0-1, 101 points, 1st place East Division

Season Series: WBS leads 7-0
Previous ten games - ALB: 7-3-0-0  WBS: 7-2-0-1


Players to Watch:
Albany: Chad Wiseman has 20 points in his last 19 games (9G, 11A), including eight goals in his last seven games. Goaltender Mike McKenna is a perfect 6-0 in March with a 2.30 GAA and .920 SV%.

Penguins: The Penguins line of Zach Sill (4G,4A), Keven Veilleux (0G,10A) and Geoff Walker (3G,5A) have all been dynamite in the month March. Andrew Hutchinson has six points in his last seven games. Brad Thiessen needs two more wins to tie John Curry's franchise record 33 wins in 2008-09 for the most by a WBS goalie in a season.

Final Thoughts
Patrick Killeen has been re-assigned to the Wheeling Nailers, which is good news on the injury to John Curry that forced him to miss the last two games. With four games in the next five days I expect both Thiessen and Curry to see action, though I'm not sure whether it will split down the middle at two a piece for each goalie.

Alex Grant and Jason DeSantis have been swapping the role of the 6/7 defenseman and have both seen a few games since being recalled from Wheeling. I still like Grant over DeSantis at this point, he's just more noticeable on the ice in a good way than DeSantis.

As far as an injury update goes, we turn to WBS Penguins beat writer Jonathan Bombulie:

John Curry practiced and Patrick Killeen was reassigned to Wheeling, so he’s a go. Carl Sneep skated in a non-contact red jersey. Joey Mormina and Joe Vitale did not skate.

I haven't heard much about Mormina or Vitale, but what Highland Park Hockey reported awhile back regarding Carl Sneep's injury was confirmed over the weekend again by Penguins play by play man Tom Grace who referred to the cast on Carl Sneep's hand.

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