Weekes' pluses, minuses for Penguins, Blackhawks

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

If the game Wednesday between the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins is anything like what we saw Tuesday in the first of their home-and-home, NHL fans are in for a treat.

Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Pittsburgh came back with two in the third before a perfect shot by Artemi Panarin won it in overtime for the Blackhawks, 3-2.

The best players showed up for each team, and so did the goaltending. The intensity made it like a Stanley Cup Playoff game, and I expect more of the same when the Penguins (19-15-5) visit the Blackhawks (24-13-4) at United Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN).

Here's my breakdown of the game:

PENGUINS

Pluses: Sidney Crosby is scoring again (six goals in six games) and making some plays, which is big. He's shooting the puck and being a little more decisive on the offensive end, and that is coinciding with the increase in production and return to the production rate we have come to know and expect from him.

Evgeni Malkin has been another plus. He's been really good for the most part all year. Ever since he stepped up and was a little more vocal, he's come out and his production has been incredible.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who missed almost three weeks with a concussion, is back. You can make the case that he has been the Penguins' most valuable player the past few seasons. He showed no signs of rust in his return, stopping 38 of 40 shots in a 5-2 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday, and was spectacular again on Tuesday.

Kris Letang missed some time with a concussion but has 10 points in five games since returning. Pittsburgh's record with him being in and out is a pretty big contrast. They are 18-8-4 with him in the lineup and 1-7-1 without him.

Defenseman Trevor Daley, acquired from the Blackhawks, has been a nice fit and has added another veteran defenseman on the back end.

Minuses: You never know what game is going to show up for them. Will it be their offensive game or their defensive game? I still don't feel like they have fully established themselves in terms of their style of play. It's good to be able to win games in different ways, but you have to have a bread-and-butter way about your play, and they still haven't been able to determine that with this group quite yet.

For whatever reason, the injury bug bites them quite often. There always seems to be guys in and out of the lineup. There are a lot of man-games lost, and it's been critical guys too. Whether it was Letang, Malkin, Fleury, etc., they seem to have tough luck with injuries.

BLACKHAWKS

Pluses: Patrick Kane and his linemates, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin, have carried Chicago. Kane (59 points) and Panarin (36 points) have been all over the score sheet all season.

The play of Corey Crawford hasn't been talked about much, but he's quietly had a good season (21-10-2 with a 2.22 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and six shutouts). And Jonathan Toews and his line isn't scoring as much as it can, but it still find ways to impact the game and be clutch in its own way.

Minuses : They are still trying to iron things out on the back end, which sounds crazy to say since they have Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. The Blackhawks also need to get more production out of their fourth line of Bryan Bickell, Dennis Rasmussen and Ryan Garbutt.

Teuvo Teravainen has played better of late, but based on how good he was in the Stanley Cup Final, I thought he was going to take a major jump this season. He is still a young player with tons of upside. He can and ultimately will be better than what we have seen so far.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

1. What will the matchups be? Will it be Kane's line against Crosby's line?

2. Which team is going to do a better job of activating their defense in the offense? It's something the Penguins have worked on since Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston as coach last month.

3. Will it be Crawford against Fleury again? Two really good goalies who have been excellent for their teams this season put on a clinic Tuesday.