Penguins

Penguins Preseason Games vs. CBJ; Game Notes & How to Watch

Published

7 months ago

September 24, 2023

Pittsburgh Penguins Game vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

The 2023-24 season begins the warmup Sunday when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Columbus Blue Jackets in a pair of split-squad games. The Penguins host the Blue Jackets at 1 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena and visit the CBJ at 7 p.m. at Nationwide.

Steve Mears will have his first Penguins radio call with color analyst Phil Bourque this afternoon, as the game can be heard on 105.9 the X. The games will be streamed on the Penguins website and viewed on KDKA+. However, the stream can be accessed only within the Pittsburgh Sportsnet region.

KDKA+ is the former Pittsburgh CW network (Over the Air Channel 19). You can find it on your cable provider here.

Fans might also get their first view of top goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist. Alex Nedeljkovic is expected to start, but teams often rotate goalies in the preseason.

Assistant coach Mike Vellucci will coach the first game. WBS Penguins coaches J.D. Forrest and Kevin Porter will assist with guest coach Kori Cheverie.

Associate coach Todd Reirden will coach the second game with assistant coach Ty Hennes and WBS Penguins assistant Sheldon Brookbank.

Penguins Game notes:

In the regular season, the Penguins were 3-0-1 against the Blue Jackets, and they have points in nine consecutive regular-season games (8-0-1) dating back to Dec. 12, 2019. In four games against Columbus in 2022-23, Sidney Crosby had a league-high 10 points (4-6-10).

The Penguins have five players on professional tryouts: defensemen Mark Pysyk and Libor Hájek and forwards Austin Wagner, Colin White, and Peter Abbandonato.

The Penguins also have seven new players vying for jobs in training camp: Rem Pitlick, Lars Eller, Matt Nieto, Noel Acciari, Joona Kappanen, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Andreas Johnsson.

Penguins’ 2023 first-round pick (14th overall) Brayden Yager will be in the Game 1 lineup.

The Penguins Game 1 Roster:

9 MARC JOHNSTONE
10 DREW O’CONNOR
11 ALEX NYLANDER
18 ANDREAS JOHNSSON
34 PETER ABBANDONATO
37 MATT FILIPE
41 EVAN VIERLING
47 SAM HOUDE
62 BRAYDEN YAGER
63 RADIM ZOHORNA
64 MATTHEW SOTO
70 DILLON HAMALIUK
83 MATT NIETO

Defensemen:

2 CHAD RUHWEDEL
42 LIBOR HAJEK
50 ANDRE ANANIA
52 MARK FRIEDMAN
53 DMITRI SAMOKUROV
73 P.O JOSEPH
78 ISAAC BELLIVEAU

Goalies:

30 JOEL BLOMQVIST
39 ALEX NEDELJKOVIC

Penguins Game 2 Roster:

12 COREY ANDONOVSKI
13 VINNIE HINOSTROZA
15 JOONA KOPPANEN
16 REM PITLICK
22 SAM POULIN
23 JAGGER JOSHUA
25 AUSTIN WAGNER
26 AUSTIN RUESCHHOFF
36 COLIN WHITE
44 JONATHAN GRUDEN
48 VALTTERI PUUSTINEN
85 AVERY HAYES

Defensemen

3 JACK ST. IVANY
4 TAYLOR FEDUN
5 RYAN SHEA
6 MARK PYSYK
24 TY SMITH
32 JUSTIN LEE
61 XAVIER OUELLET

Goalies

33 TAYLOR GAUTHIER
45 MAGNUS HELLBERG