Penguins

Penguins Game 30 vs. Wild: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

11 months ago

December 18, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins (13-13-3) return home Monday to face the Minnesota Wild (12-12-4). The Penguins are coming off a 7-0 loss Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs for a split of a two-game road trip, but they are still reeling from the embarrassing loss. The locker Penguins were still angry with themselves on Sunday.

Minnesota is coming off a 2-1 shootout win Saturday against Vancouver.

Game Time

The game starts a little after 7 p.m.

Penguins Preview

The Penguins will be looking to bounce back from a loss Saturday that was a low point and evoked adjectives from players such as embarrassing.

That loss came after the team had won two in a row. It prompted a change on defense at practice Sunday, with Ryan Graves moving to a pairing with Erik Karlsson and Marcus Petterson swapping places with Graves to skate with Kris Letang.

There are a couple of things that could help the Penguins turn the page.

Forwards Rickard Rakell and Noel Acciari could return from injury and play their first game in December. Both were full participants in practice on Sunday.

There also will be the presence of former Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, a favorite teammate for more than a decade, including the three most recent Stanley Cup runs.

Although he won’t be starting, Fleury, 39, will be on the bench for what could be his final appearance in uniform in Pittsburgh. He has not committed to playing beyond this season.

Read more:

Anderson: Penguins Reflect; Fleury in Possible Pittsburgh Swan Song

Kingerski: Karlsson Calls Out Team; Sullivan at a Loss

The Wild has won three straight games, the past two in a shootout.

Since John Hynes, a one-time Penguins AHL coach, replaced Dean Evason as coach late last month, Minnesota is 7-0-2 and appears to be buying in to Hynes’ system.

Mats Zuccarello leads the Wild with 28 points, while Joel Eriksson Ek leads with 14 goals.

Penguins Expected Lines

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Valtteri Puustinen

Drew O’Connor-Lars Eller-Radim Zohorna

Jansen Harkins-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter

Defense

Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang

Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson

John Ludvig-Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies

Alex Nedeljkovic

Tristan Jarry

Wild Expected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matthew Boldy

Marcus Johansson-Marco Rossi-Matts Zuccarello

Marcus Foligno-Frederick Gaudreau-Pat Maroon

Brandon Duhaime-Connor Dewar-Ryan Hartman

Defense

Jake Middleton-Brock Faber

Alex Goligoski-Dakota Mermis

Zack Bogosian-Daemon Hunt

Goalies

Filip Gustavsson

Marc-Andre Fleury

Penguins Special Teams

Penguins power play: 12.9%, 27th

Penguins penalty kill: 81.1%, 12th

Wild power play: 16.8%, 22nd

Wild penalty kill: 73.0 %, 30th

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins have a nine-game point streak against Minnesota (8-0-1) and are 12-3-1 in their past 16 meetings.

At home, the Penguins are 4-0-1 in their past five games against the Wild.

Kris Letang has a seven-game point streak against Minnesota (3 goals, 6 assists) and 18 points in 20 career games in the series (4 goals, 14 assists).

The Penguins are winning 54.6 percent of their faceoffs, ranking second in the league.

Sidney Crosby, who leads the Penguins with 17 goals and ranks second with 31 points, has 1,533 career points, one shy of moving out of a tie with Mark Recchi and into 13^th place alone all-time in the NHL.

Erik Karlsson is two assists shy of 600 for his career.