Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Toronto Maple Leafs 10/12/2024

Three days after the New York Rangers spoiled their home opener, the Penguins are looking to do the same in Toronto.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (1-1-0, 2 points) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1-1-0, 2 points)

When: 7 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Sportsnet Pittsburgh, CBC, NHL Network

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are staying in Canada through Monday, when they face the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Then it’s back to PPG Paints next week for a Wednesday game against the Buffalo Sabres and Friday matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Opponent Track: The Leafs got off to a similarly mixed start while opening the season on a two-game road trip. Toronto followed up a 1-0 season-opening shutout by the Canadiens with a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils the next day.

Season Series: The Penguins opened the 2023-24 season series with a 3-2 win at home thanks to a last-minute goal from Erik Karlsson, but later dropped two contests at Scotiabank Arena with a 7-0 shutout in December and a 3-2 overtime loss in April.

Getting to know the Maple Leafs

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner

Max Domi - John Tavares - William Nylander

Max Pacioretty - Pontus Holmberg - Nicholas Robertson

Steven Loretnz - David Kampf - Bobby McMann

DEFENSEMEN

Morgan Reilly / Chris Tanev

Oliver Ekman-Larsson / Jake McCabe

Simon Benoit / Conor Timmins

Goalies: Anthony Stolarz, Dennis Hildeby

Possible scratches: Joseph Woll (lower-body tightness)

IR: Connor Dewar (shoulder surgery)

• The Leafs’ top line has yet to score in two games as the Marner-Matthews combination works to break through for the first time this season. We’ll see how long that goes before head coach Craig Berube considers shaking up the season-opening lineup.
• Starting goaltender Woll was ruled out prior to the Leafs’ season-opening Wednesday loss to the Canadiens, prompting the emergency recall of Hildeby. Like Blomqvist did for the Pens, the third-stringer recorded the Leafs’ first win of the season in his NHL debut on Thursday. He looked solid as he made 21 saves against Jack Hughes and the Devils.
• Woll was placed on the injured reserve on Wednesday, so he won’t be eligible to play on Saturday. The Penguins will likely be facing Stolarz in his bid for his first win of the season. The Pens didn’t meet up with the veteran backup last season, during which he posted a .925 save percentage behind Sergei Bobrovsky and the eventual Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

That’s three notable of Maple Leafs stars who have yet to record a single point. In fact, the zero combined points from Toronto’s trio through two games made franchise history:

It would be difficult to bet against the chance that Auston Matthews, who has six shots but no goals through two games, scores in his team’s home opener.

• Chris Tanev, who inked a six-year deal with the Leafs this offseason, has so far proved to be an upgrade to the Toronto defense. His breakout passes to spring Leafs scorers could prove a serious challenge in his likely matchup with the Pens’ own top pairing.
• Tanev’s arrival has also proved to be a boost for the Leafs’ penalty kill, which was a weakness for the team last season and has since improved to fend off eight of 10 opposing power plays through two games. On the other hand, Toronto has yet to score a power play goal this season.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell

Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O’Connor

Rutger McGroarty - Lars Eller - Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes - Cody Glass - Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Joel Blomqvist or Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea, Valtteri Puustinen

IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Bryan Rust, Alex Nedeljkovic, Blake Lizotte, Vasily Ponomarev

• The Penguins had an off day on Friday. We’ll assume the team is rolling out similar lines to Thursday’s win, unless Bryan Rust is ready to go, in which case a winger— possibly McGroarty, who was limited to just over 10 minutes of ice time in Thursday’s win— is likely to be the odd man out. Keep an eye out for an update on Rust this morning; he was with the team during Thursday’s trip to Detroit.
• It seems likely Jarry will get the start tonight, with Nedeljkovic still week-to-week, but it will be interesting to see if Sullivan’s hook is any quicker should he struggle now that Blomqvist has made his NHL debut.
• Thursday’s win over the likely playoff-bubble Red Wings didn’t exactly completely dispel the doubts caused by the Pens’ collapse against the Cup contender Rangers. The Pens are set to fight for their first win of the season against a likely playoff team tonight.

Milestone watch

• After hitting 800 career assists on Thursday, Evgeni Malkin is two goals away from 500, and two points away from 1,300. (Per Pens PR: hitting that threshold will join him with Crosby as the only two active NHL players with 500 goals, 800 assists and 1,300 points.)
• Sidney Crosby is two points away from 1,600 career points. (Per Pens PR: The Pens captain, who is about to skate in his 1,275th game, is on track to beat out Steve Yzerman as the fifth-fastest NHL player to ever reach the milestone.)