Penguins

Penguins Game 27 vs. Coyotes: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

1 year ago

December 12, 2023

Pittsburgh Penguins game, Arizona Coyotes

The Pittsburgh Penguins (11-12-3) host the Arizona Coyotes (13-11-2) on Tuesday, the first meeting of the season between the clubs. The Penguins game will feature a few firsts, including the hometown debut of Logan Cooley and a revamped (again) Penguins power play that has gone more than a month without scoring.

The Penguins are coming off a 3-1 loss Friday against the Panthers in Florida.

Arizona is coming off a 5-2 loss Monday against the Sabres in Buffalo.

Penguins Game Time

The game starts a little after 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh Penguins Preview

The Penguins have lost four games in a row (0-2-2). They have scored one goal in each of their past three games.

The ongoing issue is the astounding lull for the power play, which is in an 0-for-37 drought over 13-plus games.

The team announced Monday that top-line right winger Bryan Rust will be out on a week-to-week basis because of an upper-body injury.

This is the first game since president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas gave coach Mike Sullivan a rousing vote of confidence.

If you’re looking for a feel-good story as a distraction, this is the first time Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Coyotes rookie Logan Cooley will face each other. Cooley, from the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, is the first “graduate” of the Sidney Crosby Little Penguins learn-to-play program to make it to the NHL. He participated when he was 5.

Read more:

Kingerski: Penguins’ Dubas Firmly Backs Sullivan as Coach; Issues Challenges and Insights

Anderson: Penguins’ Crosby ‘Cooley’ Recounts Connection to Touted Rookie

And if you’re into cellphone photography at the game tonight: https://create.vista.com/features/background-remover/

Arizona, playing on the second of back-to-back nights while the Penguins have been off since Friday, have lost three in a row following a five-game winning streak and, like the Penguins, are on the outside looking in in terms of a playoff position.

Clayton Keller leads the Coyotes with 25 points, while Michael Carcone leads with 14 goals. Cooley has three goals, 15 points.

Expected Penguins Lines

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Drew O’Connor

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Valtteri Puustinen

Radim Zohorna-Lars Eller-Jeff Carter

Jansen Harkins-Jonathan Gruden-Marc Johnstone

Defense

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea-John Ludvig

Goalies

Tristan Jarry

Alex Nedeljkovic

Expected Coyotes Lines

Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Jason Zucker

Matias Maccelli-Nick Bjugstad-Lawson Crouse

Michael Carcone-Alex Kerfoot

Milos Kelemen-Logan Cooley-Liam O’Brien

Defense

Moser-Matt Dumba

Juuso Valimaki-Troy Stecher

Travis Dermott-Josh Brown

Michael Kesselring

Goalies

Connor Ingram

Karel Vejmelka

Penguins Special Teams

Penguins power play: 9.5%, 30th

Penguins penalty kill: 83.5%, 10th

Coyotes power play: 23.7%, 9th

Coyotes penalty kill: 81.1%, 14th

Penguins Game Notes

The teams met twice last season, with the Penguins winning both by a combined 10-3.

The Penguins have won 10 straight games against Arizona and are 12-0-1 in the teams’ past 13 meetings dating to Feb. 29, 2016. Those 13 games represent all of Mike Sullivan’s games against the Coyotes as Penguins coach.

Against the Western Conference, the Penguins are 6-4-1 this season.

Sidney Crosby has 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 22 career games against Arizona.

Evgeni Malkin has four career game-winning goals against the Coyotes.

Malkin and Crosby each have a seven-game point streak against Arizona.

Crosby, with 1,529 career points, is two shy of tying Paul Coffey for 14^th all-time in the NHL.