It’s the second-to-last game of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, fighting for their playoff lives in a chaotic Metropolitan Division. Their recent run has put them just one point back of the Capitals, Flyers, and Red Wings in the race for the second wildcard spot in the East, and they could even theoretically catch the Islanders for the third divisional seed.
All that is to say, this game matters enormously to the Penguins.
They’ve been plagued by bad shooting luck this year despite a very good offense, which has impacted their power play success rate in particular.