Penguins

Penguins Game 21, Guentzel Returns; Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Lightning

Published

2 weeks ago

November 19, 2024

Pittsburgh Penguins game vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

The Pittsburgh Penguins (7-10-3) nearly lost a 3-0 lead to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday but escaped with a shootout win. The Penguins were 1-1-1 against bad teams last week, but they will face a heavyweight Tuesday when old friend Jake Guentzel returns with the Tampa Bay Lightning (9-6-1) at PPG Paints Arena.

The puck drops just after 7 p.m.

Saturday’s highlight was not the Penguins win but the NHL debut of 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering and the Penguins debut of Vasily Ponomarev. Pickering earned his first NHL point with an assist on the Penguins’ second goal of the first period.

Alex Nedeljkovic earned the five-round shootout win. However, the Penguins are not out of the woods. They imploded in a 6-2 loss to Columbus on Friday and lost what should have been an insurmountable lead on Saturday.

Sidney Crosby remains just short of 600 career goals. He tallied one on Saturday, raising his total to 599. It might be quite fitting for Crosby to score No. 600 in front of Jake Guentzel, who spent most his eighte-year Penguins career playing beside Crosby.

The Penguins traded Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2024 NHL trade deadline, but Guentzel spurned Carolina’s eight-year contract offer to sign with Tampa Bay (who let Steve Stamkos walk via free agency to do so).

Guentzel is second on the team in scoring with 17 points (7-10-17) in 16 games. He trails Nikita Kucherov, who already has 26 points (11-15-26).

“I’ll probably always see (Guentzel) as a Pittsburgh Penguin. With everything that we’ve been through here in Pittsburgh and what he meant to our team and the Stanley Cup when he was here,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Guentzel on Monday. “He was a great player for us for a long time.”

Since Alex Nedeljkovic won on Saturday, there’s a good chance he will start in goal for the Penguins on Tuesday. Sullivan could switch back to Tristan Jarry, who was shelled in Columbus and allowed at least one soft goal.

Andrei Vasilevskiy is the likely Tampa Bay starter.

Based on the Penguins’ Monday practice, the team will again have four rookies in the lineup. Defenseman Ryan Graves remained out of the lineup on Monday. Defenseman Kris Letang, who has been out sick, took part in the optional morning skate, according to the team. So, too, did Kevin Hayes.

Penguins Lines

Anthony Beauvillier-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust

Jesse Puljujarvi-Drew O’Connor-Sam Poulin

Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Vasily Ponomarev

Defense

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Matt Grzelcyk-Jack St. Ivany

Owen Pickering-Ryan Shea

Goalie: Alex Nedeljkovic/Tristan Jarry

Lightning Lines

Per Daily Faceoff

Jake Guentzel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Nick Paul

Cam Atkinson-Conor Geekie-Mitchell Chaffee

Zemgus Girgensons-Luke Glendening-Michael Eysimmont

Defense

Victor Hedman-J.J. Moser

Ryan McDonagh-Erik Cernak

Emil Lilleberg-Nick Perbix

Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy

Special Teams

Penguins power play; 18.5%, 17th. Penguins penalty kill: 81.7%, 12th.

Lightning power play: 19.6%, 15th. Lightning penalty kill: 79.2%, 17th.

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins have won six of their last seven games against Tampa Bay (6-1-0). Going back further, the Penguins have won in seven of their last nine games against the Lightning (7-2-0) and have points in eight of their last 10 against them (7-2-1).

Tristan Jarry is 6-3-0 with a 2.45 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage, and one goal in nine career games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Michael Bunting has five points (3-2-5), including three goals in his last seven games.

Anthony Beauvillier has a four-game points streak (3-2-5) but has never achieved a five-game streak.

Pickering became the third Penguins defenseman in 10 years to notch a point in his first game. The others were P.O Joseph in 2021 and Derrick Pouliot in 2014.