Who: Tampa Bay Lightning (1-1-0) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1-0-0)
When: 7:00 p.m. Eastern
How to Watch: AT&T Sportsnet in Pittsburgh, NHL Network somewhere else (Bally Sports Sun for the away broadcast)
Opponent Track: After opening the season with a loss to the Rangers in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, the Lightning are heading to Pittsburgh on the second one part of a again-to-again set of away video games. Last evening in Columbus, Tampa grew to become a 2-2 first-duration tie right into a definitive 5-2 win.
Pens Path Ahead: The Penguins commute to Montreal for his or her first away recreation of the season this Monday. They go back house the next Thursday, when the Los Angeles Kings come to the town.
Season Series: The Penguins are set to face off two times extra with Tampa Bay in fast succession in 2023 (February 26 at house, and March 2 at the street). Last season, Pittsburgh went 2-1-0 towards the Lightning in 3 top-scoring contests.
Getting to know the Lightning
SBN Counterpart Blog: Raw Charge
Friday Game Lines
FORWARDS
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Nick Paul – Steven Stamkos – Alex Killorn
Ross Colton – Vladislav Namestnikov – Corey Perry
Cole Koepke – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Pat Maroon
DEFENSEMEN
Victor Hedman / Cal Foote
Mikhail Sergachev / Erik Cernak
Haydn Fleury / Philippe Myers
Goalies: Andrei Vasilevskiy (Brian Elliott)
Scratches: Ian Cole (suspension), Trevor Carrick, Gabriel Fortier
IR: Zach Bogosian, Anthony Cirelli (shoulder surgical procedures)
Watch out for No. 91
After a season-opening loss towards the New York Rangers, the Tampa Bay Lightning went via some line shuffling.
Steven Stamkos started Wednesday because the left wing at the Lightning’s most sensible line, and confirmed up on Friday because the staff’s 2d line heart.
It didn’t appear to subject a lot to him both approach. Stamkos scored an influence-play purpose on Wednesday, then deflected two extra pucks into the online (one off of a Blue Jacket, one off his personal blade) on Friday.
And this manufacturing streak is going again even additional:
Going again to the top of ultimate season, Steven Stamkos has now recorded issues in 11 consecutive common season video games. He has 29 issues over that 11-recreation span with 13 objectives and 16 assists. Overall, he has 43 issues (18G, 25A) in his ultimate 22 common season video games.
— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) October 15, 2022
It’s secure to say the Lightning captain be somebody for the Penguins to watch for, whether or not he’s matching up with the Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin line.
To Vasilevskiy, or no longer to Vasilevskiy?
Andrei Vasilevskiy began the Lightning’s first two video games of the season, together with the primary part of the again-to-again set on Friday.
It’s early within the season, so the Lightning may push Vasilevskiy to play 3 video games in 4 days. After all, he had one of the vital heaviest workloads within the NHL ultimate season.
But they may additionally leisure him, and installed backup and previous Flyer Brian Elliot as an alternative.
The Penguins will probably be hoping for that end result. Vasilevskiy regarded each little bit of 6-foot-4 on Friday:
And now for the Pens…
Thursday Game Lines
Forwards
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen – Jeff Carter – Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn – Ryan Poehling – Josh Archibald
Defense
Brian Dumoulin / Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson / Jeff Petry
Pierre-Olivier Joseph / Jan Rutta
Goalies: Tristan Jarry (Casey DeSmith)
Scratches: Teddy Blueger (day-to-day damage), Chad Ruhwedel
Time to see who those Penguins in reality are…
Fans may no longer have requested for extra in a season opener. Not best did Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each get at the board, however perennially drought-plagued scorers like Jason Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen put pucks within the internet, and new addition Jeff Petry earned his first level as a Penguin.
But this 6-2 win used to be towards the Arizona Coyotes, a bunch ranked thirty first within the NHL with 57 issues— and a 25-50-7 document— in 2021-22
The Penguins suffered a couple of sloppy moments and a few eye-catchingly disconnected passes on Thursday. The Coyotes weren’t in a position to convert on those alternatives— however a extra unhealthy staff would possibly have.
The Lightning are going to put that to the take a look at.
This isn’t similar Tampa Bay staff that received again-to-again championships, however the roster nonetheless boasts the likes of Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Saturday goes to be the primary vital take a look at of what this season’s Penguins staff— particularly its somewhat-untested fourth line, with Ryan Poehling at its heart instead of an injured Teddy Blueger— goes to seem like towards aggressive groups.
Now that he is had slightly extra time to digest ultimate evening’s opener, here is what stood out to Mike Sullivan:
“There are some areas where we know we can get better. But for the first game, just the enthusiasm, the compete level, the energy level – I thought it was tremendous.”
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 14, 2022