The Pittsburgh Penguins (2-0-0) beat both New York teams last week as rookies, and the star players filled the highlights and the net. Saturday is the big return of coach Mike Sullivan to Pittsburgh as the Penguins get a rematch of Tuesday’s win over the New York Rangers when they host New York at PPG Paints Arena.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m.
The crowd reaction to Sullivan and the likely video tribute will be … interesting. The Penguins have not won a playoff series since 2018, and Sullivan, rightly or wrongly, was widely blamed for the lack of young players in the Penguins’ lineup.
The irony of the Penguins having four rookies in the lineup Tuesday was striking.
The Penguins beat the New York Islanders 4-3 on Thursday in a wildly entertaining game at PPG Paints Arena. Justin Brazeau scored the game-winner early in the third period with a breakaway goal.
It was Brazeau’s third goal of the young season, and Evgeni Malkin notched an assist. Malkin leads the NHL with five points (1-4-5) after two games.
Penguins rookie defenseman Harrison Brunicke scored his first NHL goal, and Filip Hallander earned his first NHL point with the assist. Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby scored the other goals.
Tristan Jarry started and won his first game of the season. He stopped 34 of 37 shots, including a last-second breakaway attempt.
After losing to the Penguins on Tuesday, the Rangers evened their record at 1-1-0 on Thursday by beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0, marking Sullivan’s first Rangers’ win.
However, Rangers’ center Vincent Trocheck is out week-to-week due to injury.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Expected Penguins Lines
Filip Hallander-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Anthony Mantha-Evgeni Malkin-Justin Brazeau
Thomas Novak-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Defense
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Caleb Jones-Harrison Brunicke
Penguins Starting Goalie
TBD (Arturs Silovs expected)
Expected Rangers Lines
Artemi Panarin—Mika Zbinejad—Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle—J.T. Miller—Conor Sheary
Jusso Parssinen—Noah Laba–Taylor Raddysh
Adam Edstrom—Sam Carrick—Matt Rempe
Defense
Vladislav Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Carson Soucy-Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen-Braden Schneider
Rangers Starting Goalie
Igor Shesterkin
Penguins Special Teams
Penguins power play: 33%, 4th. Penguins penalty kill: 100% (5-for-5), T-1st.
Rangers power play: 0%, 19th. Rangers penalty kill: 100% (5-for-5), T-1st.
Penguins Game Notes
-A win tonight would give Pittsburgh back-to-back wins against New York for the first time since Dec. 20, 2022-March 12, 2023.
-The Rangers have won four straight at PPG Paints Arena.
Kris Letang enters tonight’s game three assists from becoming the 20th defenseman in NHL history to notch 600 assists, and is looking to join Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Victor Hedman as the only active blueliners to accomplish this feat.
-Justin Brazeau has scored the game winner in each of his first two Penguins games, becoming just the second player in franchise history to do so, joining Chuck Kobasew in 2013-14. He is also just the 13th player in NHL history to accomplish the feat, and first since James Neal with Vegas in 2017-18.
Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game one assist from surpassing Hall-of-Famer Steve Yzerman for sole possession of the ninth-most assists in NHL history.
Categorized: Penguins Pregame
