Penguins

Fond Memories; Penguins Game 25 vs. Lightning: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Published

5 months ago

December 6, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins (11-10-3) play Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

The game comes after the Penguins lost both ends of a home-and-home with the Philadelphia Flyers but picked up points in each, 4-3 in a shootout Saturday at home and 2-1 in overtime Monday on the road.

The Lightning (12-6-4) is coming off a 4-0 win Monday at home against Dallas.

Game Time

The game starts a little after 7 p.m.

Penguins Preview

This game comes just six days after the Penguins last visited Tampa, and that was a game to remember.

Not only did the Penguins come back from a two-goal deficit, but they also got a goalie goal from Tristan Jarry.

It was a tremendous feel-good game. It remains to be seen whether dropping the two games to the Flyers in the interim rubbed the shine off that night, or whether returning to Tampa will get those juices flowing again.

One thing that hasn’t changed in the past week and beyond is the total lack of results from the Penguins power play, which has gone 11 games, 29 chances and several personnel and strategy tweaks without a goal.

Kingerski: Pens Frustration Bubbling

Kingerski: Pressure Growing; Heart or Mental Block

The Lightning, following the frustrating loss to the Penguins, had an even tougher time Saturday in an 8-1 loss in the first half of a home-and-home with Dallas before bouncing back with the shutout win.

The win against the Stars came on a night when the Lightning celebrated defenseman Victor Hedman’s 1,000^th game.

Overall, Tampa has lost four of its past five, five of its past seven (2-4-1).

Expected Penguins Lines

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Drew O’Connor

Radim Zohorna-Lars Eller-Alex Nylander

Jansen Harkins-Joonas Koppanen-Jeff Carter

Defense

Ryan Graves-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea-John Ludvig

Goalies

Tristan Jarry

Alex Nedeljkovic

Expected Lightning Lines

Steven Stamkos-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli -Alex Barre-Boulet
Tanner Jeannot-Nick Paul-Mikey Eyssimont
Cole Koepke-Luke Glendening-Tyler Motte

Defense

Victor Hedman-Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev-Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan-Nick Perbix

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Penguins Special Teams

Penguins power play: 10.5%, 30th

Penguins penalty kill: 84.9%, 8th

Lightning power play: 31%, 2nd

Lightning penalty kill: 82.9%, 11th

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins have won their past five games against Tampa. A win would give them their first streak of at least six straight wins since they went 10-0-0 Jan. 15, 2012-Dec. 15, 2014.

Jake Guentzel has a six-game point streak, a nine-game road point streak, and has 22 points (8 goals, 15 assists) in his past 19 games.

Sidney Crosby has scored the game’s opening goal five times, most in the NHL. He leads the Penguins with 15 goals and is second with 26 points.

Crosby, with 1,528 career points, is three shy of tying Paul Coffey for 14^th all-time in the league. With 565 career goals, he is one shy of tying Patrick Marleau for 23^rd all-time in the league.

Kris Letang has an eight-game point streak against Tampa (10 assists) and has 41 points (5 goals, 36 assists) in 45 career games against the Lightning.