Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (14-10-9, 37 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Montreal Canadiens (18-12-4, 40 points, 2nd place Atlantic Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Broadcast locally on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, in Canada on City TV, SNE and TVAS, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens are dropping the puck against the Canadiens again in 24 hours, this time at PPG Paints Arena for the back half of this home-and-home set.
Opponent Track: The Canadiens have been alternating wins and
losses since defeating the Pens last week. They’re most recently coming out of a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Season Series: The Pens lost the first game of this season series 4-2 back on Dec. 11 in the third defeat of the team’s ongoing seven-game losing streak.
Hidden Stat: Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes has 12 wins, which is tied with the San Jose Sharks’ Yaroslav Askarov for the most by any rookie netminder this season.
Getting to know the Canadiens
Projected linesCole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Zack Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Alexandre Texier
Owen Beck – Joe Veleno – Brendan Gallagher
DEFENSEMEN
Jayden Struble – Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson – Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – Adam Engstrom
Goalies: Jakub Dobes, Jacob Fowler
Potential scratches: Mike Matheson (?), Philip Danault (?)
Injured Reserve: Kaiden Guhle, Patrick Laine, Mike Matheson, Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach
- Former Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson has missed two games with a day-to-day upper body injury, although he was seen skating Friday during the Habs’ off day.
- First-line winger Zack Bolduc is coming off the first two-goal night of his Habs career, which took place during Thursday’s win over the Blackhawks.
- The Habs made a late-night trade on Friday for Philip Danault, who played his first three NHL seasons in Montreal before spending the last three and a half with the Los Angeles Kings. No word yet on how quickly he’ll be expected to get to Canada.
Season stats
via hockeydb
- Sam Montembeault is on an AHL conditioning assignment, so the Canadiens have been swapping between two young goaltenders in Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.
- The Canadiens’ defense has at times been a weakness this season, especially while missing Kaiden Guhle amid his recovery from surgery on his adductor muscle. That has made it especially difficult on what is currently an inexperienced goaltending tandem, and it’s part of the reason the Habs are allowing 3.41 goals per game (the fourth-most in the NHL) through 34 games this season.
- The Pens outshot the Canadiens, 38-29, in their 4-2 loss to the Habs back on Dec. 11 at PPG Paints. It was Montreal that had the clear edge in shot quality, however. The Penguins struggled to limit the Canadiens’ scoring chances down the middle in that most recent matchup.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau
Kevin Hayes – Ben Kindel – Rutger McGroarty
Danton Heinen – Connor Dewar – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Brett Kulak / Jack St. Ivany
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Ville Koivunen, Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton
IR: Blake Lizotte, Evgeni Malkin, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones
The Penguins are in the middle of a few historic (and unfortunate) streaks right now, per Bob Grove:
- The Pens’ seven-game winless streak (they’re 0-3-4 over this stretch) is the team’s longest since 2006.
- The team has also lost four straight goaltender interference challenges, their longest such streak since 2016.
A few milestones to watch out for tonight:
- Bryan Rust (465 points) is one point behind Jake Guetnzel (466) for the 11th-most in Penguins history.
- An even-strength goal from Sidney Crosby would move the captain past Phil Esposito (448) for the ninth-most even-strength tallies in NHL history.
- An assist would meanwhile tie Crosby with Adam Oates (1,079) for the eighth-most in NHL history.
- Crosby remains just one point shy of tying Mario Lemieux’s franchise record of 1,723 points for the Penguins.
