Penguins/Whale PREVIEW 2/24

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins look to continue through their three game weekend strong with a home game matchup tonight against the Connecticut Whale. The game is SOLD OUT.

Expected Starting Goalies

Jeff Zatkoff (WBS): 16-15-0, 2.01 GAA, .916 SV%, 3 SO

Cameron Talbot (CT): 19-20-1, 2.58 GAA, .918 SV%, 1 SO

Breaking Down the Matchup

Connecticut: 5th Place Northeast Divison, 25-22-4-2 = 56 points

PENGUINS: 3rd Place East Division, 27-22-2-1 = 57 

Leading Scorers

Connecticut: Kris Newbury (17G, 28A), Brandon Segal (14G, 14A), Logan Pyett (5G, 20A)

PENGUINS: Chad Kolarik (19G, 24A), Riley Holzapfel (16G, 18A), Trevor Smith (16G, 16A)

Re-Visiting the Kolarik/Ferriro Swap

The Penguins and Whale meet up exactly one month after the trade that sent Benn Ferriero to the New York Rangers in exchange for Chad Kolarik. Ferriero saw some time in New York, but will be playing his third game with the AHL's Connecticut Whale tonight, and against his former team.

The Whale are coming off a 5-1 loss to St. John's on Wednesday night. The Penguins were come from behind winners over the Phantoms last night in Pholadelphia.

For the Penguins, Alex Grant never returned after an apparent head injury from a hit by Norfolk's Mat Clark last Friday and won't play this weekend. Chris Collins, who coach Hynes originally told me missed practice due to a maintenance day, also appears to be out of the lineup.

I'll have the latest on who's starting for the Penguins tonight as well as updates of all the action and a recap with thoughts from the players and coaches shortly after the game. Follow on Twitter tonight with @H_P_Hockey.

Injured list: Tom Kuhnhackl (upper body), Paul Thompson (upper body), Phil Dupuis, Alex Grant (upper body), Chris Collins (lower body) and Steve MacIntyre.

Healthy Scratches: Reid McNeill

Expected lineup:

Kolarik - Smith - Holzapfel
Gibbons - Megna - Kostopoulos
Payerl - Peters - Uher
Minella - Sill - Farnham

Reese - Dumoulin
Wild - Mormina
Samuelsson - Morrow