Penguins Game 3, Blomqvist Starts: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

TORONTO — One bad game, one good game. The Pittsburgh Penguins (1-1-0) return to the scene of the crime where last December they suffered the worst of many of the season’s awful defeats by losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-0 in front of a Hockey Night in Canada national TV audience. They’ll face the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-1-0) Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.

The Penguins rallied from an abysmal drubbing by the New York Rangers on opening night by beating the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 at Little Caesars Arena Thursday. Anthony Beauvillier scored a pair of goals, Erik Karlsson scored a third-period power-play goal, and Kevin Hayes added the clinching goal later in the third period.

However, the story of the game, which will carry over into Saturday in Toronto, was Penguins rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist, who stopped 29 of 32 but made numerous difficult saves in critical moments to preserve the Penguins’ leads and the win.

It was Blomqvist’s first NHL start, and he will start again Saturday, in part because of his performance Thursday.

“It had an impact,” Sullivan admitted.

Also, Bryan Rust will probably be back in the lineup, though he is officially a “game-time decision.” He made sure to play coy with the assembled media Saturday morning, stressing the word “if” he’s back.

Anthony Stolarz is the Maple Leafs starting goalie. He is 0-1-0 with a .963 save percentage after being the hard-luck 1-0 loser to the Montreal Canadiens on opening night.

Penguins Lines

Anthony Beauvillier-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell

Drew O’Connor-Lars Eller-Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes-Cody Glass-Noel Acciari

Defense

Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves-Jack St. Ivany

Goalie

Joel Blomqvist

Maple Leafs Lines (Estimated)

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner

Bobby McMann-Pontus Holmberg-William Nylander

Max Pacioretty-Max Domi-Nicholas Robertson

Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves

Defense

Morgan Reilly-Chris Tanev

Oliver Ekman-Larsson–Jake McCabe

Simon Benoit-Connor Timmons

Goalie: Anthony Stolarz

Special Teams

Penguins Power Play: 20%, 16th. Penguins Penalty Kill: 85.7%, 13th.

Maple Leafs Power Play: 0%, 25th. Maple Leafs Penalty Kill: 80%, 16th.

Game Notes

*Evgeni Malkin is stuck on 498 goals, two away from the 500-goal milestone. He registered his 800th assist Thursday vs. Detroit.

*The Penguins are 20-13-3 in the last 36 games against the Maple Leafs.

*Anthony Beauvillier scored his first two goals as a Penguin on Thursday. It was his 17th multi-goal game and first since Nov. 2, 2023, as a member of the Vancouver Canucks.

*Sidney Crosby is two points short of 1600 in his career.

How to Watch

TV: Sportsnet (Canada), Pittsburgh, Sportsnet;

Radio: 105.9 The X