Blues At Penguins Morning Open Thread: David Backes, Phil Kessel Square Off

Forget about HotdogGate. Phil Kessel has been having a hell of a season for the Pittsburgh Penguins even if the rest of the team seems to have stagnated. The Pens are 12-8-0 with a surprising -2 goal differential, considering the team sports Kessel, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeny Malkin. They sit third in the Metro Division, and have been having struggles so far this season with consistency and scoring. When Nick Bonino has as many goals as Crosby through twenty games (three), there may be an issue.

The Blues are coming off of a come from behind victory over a very persistent Buffalo Sabres team. Led by Troy Brouwer and Robby Fabbri, the team's offense took a while to get going. They have been less offensive than usual - they haven't managed to score more than three goals in the eight games since scoring ten goals against Chicago and Nashville at the start of the month.

The last time that the Blues lost in Pittsburgh was 2009. Let's see if that streak continues tonight.

This is your morning open thread. Before you head back a little later on for some of CCR's Road Music and your GDT, don't forget to swing by PensBurgh and see what the nice folk from the Steel City are up to.