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Penguins vs. Kraken, Game 9: Lines, Notes and How to Watch

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Pittsburgh Penguins Game, Seattle Kraken

The Pittsburgh Penguins (4-3-1) finally are out of Western Canada.

Whether they brought any confidence with them when they crossed the border en route to Seattle, where they will face the Kraken tonight shortly after 10 p.m. Eastern, remains to be seen.

UPDATE: Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel will be game-time decisions.

It would be understandable if they didn’t have any to declare while going through U.S. Customs, considering how this week has gone for them.

The Penguins lost games in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver — just the third time in franchise history they went 0-3 when stopping in all three cities on the same trip, according to stats man extraordinaire Bob Grove — and looked awful in the process most of the time.

They were outscored, 15-5, in those games, including a 5-1 defeat Friday by the Canucks, who had recorded their first victory of the season just 24 hours before humbling the Penguins.

The Penguins are justifiably unhappy with their flameout since a 6-3 victory in Columbus last Saturday.

They will not have a game-day skate, not even an optional one, in Seattle, which is the norm when they play on consecutive days.

Casey DeSmith, who is 0-1-1 and has a .907 save percentage and 3.42 goals-against average, is expected to start in goal.

It was not immediately clear whether Mike Sullivan, who dropped Brian Dumoulin from the first defense pairing to the third and bumped P.O Joseph to the top pairing in Vancouver, plans to reconfigure any of his forward combinations or pairings.

Left winger Jake Guentzel, who has missed the past four games after being struck in the ear by a puck, has been cleared for contact, but seems like a long shot to play tonight, since he has not gone through a full-team practice since getting that upgrade.

Injured winger Jason Zucker is expected to miss his third game in a row, and center Teddy Blueger still is on the Long-Term Injured list.

Seattle (3-4-2), which is in its second season in the league, is off to a reasonably good start, but is just 1-3-1 at Climate Pledge Arena. The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 6-1 victory in their only visit there last Dec. 6.

Former Penguins forward Jared McCann has five goals and three assists, tying him with Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky for the Kraken’s team scoring lead.

Penguins alum Brandon Tanev, whose first season with the Kraken was ended by a knee injury that had to be surgically repaired, has one goal and four assists. He also has recorded 19 hits, the most of any Seattle forward.

Expected Pittsburgh Penguins Lines:

Rakell — Crosby — Rust

Heinen — Malkin — Carter

McGinn — Poulin — Kapanen

Caggiula — Poehling — Archibald

Defense:

Joseph — Letang

Pettersson — Petry

Dumoulin — Rutta

Goalies:

DeSmith

Jarry

Seattle Kraken Lines, per Puckpedia.com:

Schwartz — Beniers — Eberle

Burakovsky — Wennberg — Bjorkstrand

McCann — Gourde — Tanev

Kuhlman — Geekie — Sprong

Defense:

Dunn — Larsson

Oleksiak — Schultz

Soucy — Borgen

Goalies:

Jones

Daccord

Special Teams:

Pittsburgh Penguins

Power play — 24.2% (8-33, 11th)

Penalty-kill — 69% (9-29, 28th)

Seattle Kraken

Power play — 28.6% (10-35, 5th)

Penalty-kill — 64.5% (11-31, 30th)

Pittsburgh Penguins Game Notes:

  • Mike Sullivan will coach his 516th game with the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, tying Eddie Johnston’s franchise record.

  • The Penguins scored a power-play goal in each of the past three games and have one in six of their first eight games.

  • Sidney Crosby needs one assist to become the 20th player in NHL history to put up 900 in his career.

  • Neither team had a 5-on-3 power play in any of the Penguins’ first eight games.

  • The Kraken’s 2-1 win at PPG Paints Arena Jan. 27 was the first overtime victory in franchise history. Defenseman Adam Larsson scored the deciding goal.

  • Seattle winger Jordan Eberle, a renowned Penguins-killer, has 13 goals in 30 career games against them.

  • Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel led the Penguins with two goals each against Seattle in 2021-22.

  • A couple of ex-Penguins will have a chance to set personal bests against their old team this evening. Jared McCann has goals in four consecutive games, and would reach five for the first time in his career if he scores tonight. (It also would give him his first-ever five-game points streak.) Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, meanwhile, will be looking to get a goal for the third game in a row, something he never has done.

How to Watch:

TV: ATTN-PIT

Radio: 105.9 The X