LAS VEGAS — The Fortress awaits the Pittsburgh Penguins (32-17-15) in the second of their crucial five-game road trip. The Penguins begin with a three-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets for a playoff spot in the Metro Division and have an active, albeit somewhat dubious three-game points streak as they face the Vegas Golden Knights (29-22-14) Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.
The puck drops just after 10 p.m. EST.
The Penguins are solid underdogs on the road. While the FanDuel NHL odds are all-in on the Penguins covering the 1.5 Puckline, Vegas is the Moneyline favorite (-156). Both teams are among the junior varsity favorites in the Stanley Cup odds.
It will be the Penguins’ fourth game without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. Malkin is serving a five-game suspension for slashing, and Crosby is rehabbing a lower-body injury, but is with the team on the road trip.
Recent results have been both good news and bad news. The Penguins’ three-game point streak includes two losses, one in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers and a 5-4 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday. The Penguins won in overtime over the Boston Bruins Sunday.
The Penguins undertook a dramatic comeback Tuesday to salvage a point against Metro Division leading Carolina. The depleted Penguins lineup without Malkin, Crosby, Justin Brazeau and Sam Girard trained 4-2 late in the third period and were being dominated.
However, after coach Dan Muse pulled goalie Stuart Skinner for the extra attacker with several minutes to play, the Penguins scored a pair of goals. First, Noel Acciari deflected Bryan Rust’s shot with 2:08 remaining, and then the Penguins tied the game with 36 seconds remaining when Rust slammed a rebound past Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen.
The Penguins scored on one of three in the shootout (Ben Kindel), but goalie Stuart Skinner allowed a pair of goals. The Penguins fell to 1-10 in shootouts this season.
Rust scored a pair of goals, and Anthony Mantha also lit the lamp. Skinner made 39 saves on 43 shots.
Conversely, Vegas has lost six of its last seven games, including a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Tuesday. Jack Eichel scored the lone Vegas goal and Adin Hill stopped 14 of 16 shots.
Based on Penguins coach Dan Muse’s goalie rotation, Arturs Silovs is the Penguins’ expected starter in goal. Hill is expected for Vegas.
Update: The Penguins sent Ryan Graves to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on a conditioning assignment and recalled Alexander Alexeyev.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X.
Expected Penguins Lines
Egor Chinakhov-Rickard Rakell-Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha-Tommy Novak-Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom-Ben Kindel-Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Defense
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Ilya Solovyov-Connor Clifton
Goalie: Arturs Silovs, expected
Expected Golden Knights Lines
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Braeden Bowman
Brett Howden-Mitch Marner-Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith-Tomas Hertl-Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith-Nic Dowd-Colton Sissons
Defense
Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin-Rasmus Andersson
Jeremey Lauzon-Korczak
Goalie: Adin Hill, expected
Special Teams
Penguins’ power play: 25.1%, 5th. Penguins penalty kill: 84.3%, 2nd.
Golden Knights power play: 25.4%, 3rd. Golden Knights penalty kill: 81.5%, 7th.
Penguins Game Notes
The Penguins have wins in seven of their last 10 games against Vegas (7-3-0) dating back to Jan. 7, 2020, and have never lost a season series to Vegas since the Golden Knights began play in the 2017-18 season.
The Penguins are 13-6-6 against Western Conference opponents this year.
Kris Letang has seven assists in his last eight games versus the Golden Knights.
When Tommy Novak scores, the Penguins win. The team has points in 25 of 29 games (19-4-6) in which Novak has recorded at least one point.
Ville Koivunen has two points (0-2-2) in three games since his recall.
Erik Karlsson tallied two assists on Tuesday against the Hurricanes and now has nine points (2-7-9) in his last seven games.
Anthony Mantha has 24 goals this season and is one goal shy of tying his career high (2018-19), and has 48 points, one point away from setting a career high (2018-19).
Mantha leads all players on new teams in goals.
Most Goals on a New Team
Anthony Mantha PIT 24
Chris Kreider ANA 21
Trevor Zegras PHI 21
JJ Peterka UTA 21
Josh Doan BUF 21
Ben Kindel’s 15 goals rank fourth among NHL rookies.
Categorized:Penguins Pregame
