Devils/Penguins PREVIEW 3/2

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins look to bounce back from last night's loss to the Hershey Bears with another home game. Tonight, it's the Albany Devils in town for a 7 p.m EST face-off.

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 thshortly and insights shortly after the game. Follow on Twitter tonight with @H_P_Hockey.

Expected Starting Goalies

Jeff Zatkoff (WBS): 17-16-0, 1.93 GAA, .913 SV%, 3 SO

Keith Kinkaid (ALB): 17-11-5, 2.69 GAA, .905 SV%, 2 SO

Breaking Down the Matchup

Albany: 3rd Place Northeast Divison, 23-19-1-9 = 56 points

PENGUINS: 3rd Place East Division, 29-24-2-1 = 61 points

Leading Scorers

Albany:  Matt Anderson (11G, 23A),  Joe Whitney (16G, 16A), Steve Zalewski (10G, 20A)

PENGUINS: Chad Kolarik (20G, 25A), Riley Holzapfel (16G, 19A), Trevor Smith (16G, 19A)

Re-Visiting the Rivalry

Last night's 3-2 regulation loss leaves the Bears nipping at the heels of the Penguins. They are now just one point ahead of the Bears, who also have a game in hand on the Penguins. 

Tonight they face an Albany Devils team that, when you look in at the standings, may mislead you to believe they are not a very good team. Sure they sit 9th in the conference right now, but with four games in hand on the teams ahead of them it's only a matter of time before the schedule evens out. The Devils control their own destiny so to speak right now, and I'll keep track of when they start to play their four games in hand on the Penguins down the stretch.

For the Penguins, Alex Grant had practiced this week and was set to return to the lineup, but hasn't appeared in either game this week. Whether or not Hynes decides to insert Grant in the lineup remains to be seen. Paul Thompson and Steve MacIntyre are getting closer but neither have practiced with the team this week. Phil Dupuis has been out of the lineup since missing the  game against Norfolk on January 15th. Tom Kuhnhackl is out for the season as he has been listed for awhile.

Injured list: Tom Kuhnhackl (upper body), Paul Thompson (upper body), Phil Dupuis and Steve MacIntyre.

Healthy Scratches: Alex Grant, Christian Minella

Expected lineup:

Kolarik - Smith - Holzapfel  

Kostopoulos - Gibbons - Uher 

Payerl - Peters - Collins 

Megna - Sill - Farnham

Reese - Dumoulin

Wild- Mormina

Samuelsson - Morrow