Penguins Game 75, Prospects Arrive; Lines, Notes & How to Watch vs. Senators

The Pittsburgh Penguins (29-34-11) vs. the Ottawa Senators (38-28-5). One team is recalling young players, and the other is solidly in the playoff fight. Prior to the season, this game was circled as a potential battle of teams fighting for the final playoff spots, but things went in the wrong direction for the Penguins.

So, Sunday begins the next chapter of the Penguins’ rebuild. Top forward prospects Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty will be in the Penguins’ lineup as they face Ottawa at PPG Paints Arena.

The puck drops just after 5 p.m.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan wasted no time putting McGroarty and Koivunen in impact roles. If the lines from Saturday’s practice hold, each will play in a top-six role: McGroarty with Sidney Crosby and Koivunen with Malkin.

It’s game on for the Penguins’ prospects who have led the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a playoff berth and near the top of the AHL standings.

The call-ups were well-timed. The Penguins have been struggling mightily and have suffered successive blowout losses. They were bulldozed by the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 on Tuesday and then lost badly to the Buffalo Sabres 7-3 on Thursday. A couple of Penguins garbage-time goals made the Buffalo loss look a little less awful.

The team is dealing with confidence issues and the reality of not being in the playoff fight.

“When it doesn’t go the right way, I think we’re a little bit vulnerable from a confidence standpoint. And so when it goes the wrong way, especially early in a game, that’s one of our particular challenges in the circumstances that we’re in,” said coach Mike Sullivan Thursday.
“We’ve got to find a way to do a better job with our pushback and just making sure that one goal against doesn’t turn into three.”

Read More: Welcome to the Rebuild: Penguins Fragile and Dejected, Get a Ray of Hope

The Penguins’ tragic number in the playoff race is down to nine points. The team’s maximum is 85 points, and the second wild-card-holding New York Rangers are at 77 points.

Sullivan will tab his starting goalie at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Ottawa is close to officially claiming a playoff berth for the first time since they lost a double-overtime Game 7 thriller to the Penguins in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.

Yes, it’s been that long.

Ottawa has won three of their last four games and holds a commanding eight-point lead over the first team outside the playoff picture (the Montreal Canadiens) with 10 games to go.

Penguins Lines

Rutger McGroarty-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Connor Dewar-Rickard Rakell-Ville Koivunen

Noel Acciari-Kevin Hayes-Philip Tomasino

Danton Heinen-Blake Lizotte-Emil Bemstrom

Defense

Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang

Conor Timmins-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves-Vladislav Kolyachonok

Goalies: Tristan Jarry/Alex Nedeljkovic

Senators Lines

Fabian Zetterlund-Tim Stutzle-Claude Giroux

David Perron-Dylan Cozens-Drake Batherson

Brady Tkachuk-Shane Pinto-Ridly Greig

Matthew Highmore-Adam Guadette-Michael Amadio

Defense

Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub

Thomas Chabot-Nick Jensen

Tyler Kleven-Nicholas Mantinpalo

Goalies: Linus Ullmark/Anton Forsberg

Special Teams

Penguins power play: 24.0%, 12th. Penguins penalty kill: 77.7%, 17th.

Senators power play: 24.0%, 11th. Senators penalty kill: 77.3%, 19th.

Penguins Game Notes

Expect overtime? The Penguins have points in 15 of their last 20 games versus Ottawa (9-5-6) dating back to March 23, 2017. However, Ottawa has won the last three games at PPG Paints Arena.

Blake Lizotte scored his 10th goal of the season Thursday against Buffalo. It’s the third time in his career that he has scored 10 or more goals in a season. He’s currently one goal shy of tying his career high of 11 goals, set during the 2022-23 season.

Thursday, Sidney Crosby became the 12th player in NHL history to tally 80 or more points in their age 37 season or older. The most points ever by a player 37 or older was 103 by Gordie Howe in 1968-69. Mario Lemieux set the Penguins’ record with 91 points in 2002-03.

Crosby is currently on a nine-game scoring streak, the longest active streak in the NHL.

Bryan Rust is two goals away from 200 career tallies.

How to Watch

TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh; Radio: 105.9 The X