Who: Buffalo Sabers (1-3-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2-2-0, 4 points)
When: 7:00 PM ET
HOW TO WATCH: The game is nationally televised on TNT and truTV, streamed on Max
Pens’ path forward: The Carolina Hurricanes make the trip to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game, then the team hits the road Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. start) against Winnipeg and stays out west to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver next week.
Opponent Track: The Sabers were able to pull off a 5-2 win over Florida on Saturday in their last game, and they needed it! Buffalo started 0-3 with a combined 10-3 record in two losses to New Jersey and one to Los Angeles.
Season Series: After tonight, there won’t be another BUF/PIT matchup until the Pens visit Buffalo on Jan. 17. The Pens return to Western New York again, in a late-season opener on March 27 to close out the three-game set.
Hidden stats: The Penguins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games at PPG Paints Arena vs. Buffalo (per Pens PR).
Recognizing the patient ones
Projected lines
Attackers
JJ Petrca – Taj Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson / Jerry Kulich – Dylan Cousins - Jack Quinn
Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Jordan Greenway
Brooke Mallenstein – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty
Defensemen
Rasmus Dahlin / Henri Jokiharju
Bowen Byram/Owen Power
Matthias Samuelsson / Connor Clifton
Goalkeeper: Oko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levy
Possible scratches: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert
IR: Nicholas Opie-Koppell
-Very interesting team building this summer in Buffalo, they brought in a ton of new speedy forwards (not including McLeod who is also highly ranked) and dropped a lot of slow skaters from last season. We’ll see if that pays off, but very few teams are able to change the dynamic of their roster as quickly as Buffalo did.
– Tonight’s front lines may be different than expected based on Petrka’s condition. He has been sidelined since suffering a concussion on Oct. 5, but went through a full practice. The left side of the lineup will depend on his availability, and it looks like he could be cleared to play tonight.
Player statistics
(via HockeyDB)
—It will be interesting to see what kind of season Thompson will have. He emerged as a star in 2021-22 (38 goals, 68 points in 78 games), turned into a supernova in 2022-23 (47 goals, 94 points) and then sort of came back down to earth last season (27 goals, 56 points in 71). games). He may not be aiming for 50, or 90 points forever, but the Sabers will need a little more than they got out of him last season.
– Levy, just 22 years old, is one of the top young goaltending talents but was up/down last season from the NHL to the AHL in his first full season as a pro. As thin and weak as Canada’s goaltending is these days, Levy is a sneaky good candidate to at least make the roster for their Four Nations and/or Olympics next year. He is very skilled but still needs more seasoning and time to prove himself.
Swords fighting each other
Skirmishes happen in hockey, but rarely so early in the season, and involve a team captain going after a teammate like Buffalo on Monday.
This is the fight that just happened between Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs.
It looks like they crashed at full speed during training.
The teammates immediately dismantled it. pic.twitter.com/bPAPnRnNvd
– Sarah Holland (@SaraaHolland) October 14, 2024
From Saber’s website:
Ruff said the skirmish between Sabers captain Rasmus Dahlen and forward Peyton Krebs during Monday’s practice is a byproduct of that intensity.
“It’s just boys being boys,” Rafe said. “I think Dulles has been bumped before and then tied the score. I wouldn’t read too much into that. We want competitive practices, so I think every now and then emotions will be a little high, but it’s a good place to be.
The fight broke out after Dahlin performed a hip check on Krebs during a workout at LECOM Harborcenter. Krebs said he caught Dahlin with a high stick as he drove toward the net earlier in the session. Both players attributed the moment to the emotions of competitive practice.
“That was really bad for me,” Dahlin said. “I shouldn’t do that. But, yeah, it’s a competition out there, and we want to push each other. So, it’s that good.”
Krebs added: “We like to train hard. That was the motto this year and that’s what we do. You try to practice like you’re playing and that’s what we do and on holidays we’re friends.”
The Sabers’ physicality has translated into games to start this season. They lead the NHL with an average of 28.0 hits per 60 minutes, including six each for Dahlin and Krebs.
“The endorsement has been amazing,” Roof said. “It’s not about leading the league in hits. It’s just about hitting at the right time. I think we got involved physically where we were able to slow down the opposition, and I think any time we can get in their way and slow them down, that’s a positive.”
If “boys will be boys” then this is a lot like parents forcing young people to kiss, make up and move on. It would be great to see how it works out.
And now for the pens
Infographic of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Projected lines
Attackers
Anthony Beauvillier – Sidney Crosby – Brian Rust
Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Jesse Polijujarvi
Kevin Hayes – Cody Glass – Noel Acciari
Defensemen
Matt Grzelcyk / Chris Letang
Marcus Petersson / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves/Ryan Shea
Goalkeeper: Tristan Jarry or Joel Blomqvist
Possible scratches: Jack St. Ivany, Rutger McGroarty, Valtteri Puustinen
IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Alex Nedeljkovic, Blake Lizotte, Vasiliy Ponomarev
– Yesterday was a day off, not a training day for the Pens who were returning home after a few days on the road.
-Within/less than the next 2.5 days until McGroarty is assigned to the AHL? He was OK but could play somewhere, and the rest of the lineup was encouraging. McGroarty’s NHL career will continue sooner rather than later, but until someone else gets hurt and starts struggling, there won’t be much room for him in the inn.
Master 1600
Can Sidney Crosby reach 1,600 career points tonight? History says so, Crosby is the active scoring leader against the Sabers with 82 points in 59 games (Malkin is second with 69 points in 53 games).
Press Pens PR with deets:
After recording an assist Saturday night in Toronto, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby enters tomorrow’s contest one point away from becoming the 10th player in NHL history to score 1,600 points in the regular season. He is looking to reach this milestone in the fifth-fewest number of matches:
Player GP to 1600 points
Wayne Gretzky 667
Mario Lemieux 812
Marcel Dionne 1,164
Jaromir Jagr 1274
Sidney Crosby 1,277*
Steve Yzerman 1,294
Joe Sakic 1,329
Mark Messier 1,332
Ron Francis 1456
Geordie Howe 1482
*Including tonight’s game
When Crosby reaches the 1,600th point, it will be the first time an NHL player has reached that milestone since Jaromir Jagr on October 6, 2011.
