TAMPA, Fla. — The Pittsburgh Penguins (13-7-5) need to stack good performances and wins to get back on track after a November that went sideways. They started the month well with a chest-thumping win over the rival Philadelphia Flyers Monday, but will have a stiff test Thursday against one of the best teams in the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning (16-8-2) at Benchmark International Arena.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m. when prominent anthemist Sonya Bryson-Kirksey delivers the National Anthem.
The Penguins rebounded extraordinarily well from a 7-2 drubbing by the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday by handling the Philadelphia Flyers and pulling away from their comeback-prone rivals in a 5-1 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Sidney Crosby had a pair of goals, and the Penguins had a trio of power-play goals as Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Tommy Novak lit the lamp on the man-advantage. Kevin Hayes added a breakaway goal.
Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry was quite good, stopping 28 of 29 shots, including a couple of tough saves on the first two shifts.
Tampa Bay is red-hot. They have won seven of their last eight games, but the New York Islanders snapped their seven-game win streak Tuesday, 2-1 at UBS Arena.
Rookie Dominic James, whom Tampa Bay signed as a college free agent over the summer, scored the only Lightning goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 of 23 shots.
Another underlying storyline Monday is the clash of special teams: the Penguins’ top-ranked power play against Tampa Bay’s top-ranked penalty kill.
Tampa Bay is dealing with the loss of top center Brayden Point, who has missed the last four games and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. There is no timetable for Point’s return, and Nick Paul has been filling his top-six center role.
The Penguins are also still dealing with several injuries, including Rickard Rakell, Noel Acciari, and Justin Brazeau. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said on his team radio show Wednesday that Brazeau and Acciari are seven to 10 days away from returning, and Rakell is still three to four weeks away.
Vasilevskiy is the likely netminder for Tampa Bay, but coach Dan Muse has another interesting choice.
If the Penguins’ goalie rotation holds, Arturs Silovs should start. However, Silovs has not won since Nov. 6, and Muse pulled him from each of his last two starts. Conversely, Tristan Jarry is 8-2-0 and has been very good in nearly all of his starts, posting a .700 quality start percentage.
PHN will update this story or add an additional post if news warrants after the Penguins’ morning skate when Muse addresses the media.
UPDATE: Tristan Jarry will start.
How to Watch the Penguins Game
Bad news for streamers. The game is also on NHL Network. It will be streamed on the Pittsburgh Sportsnet 360 service for those to whom it is available.
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, NHL Network
Radio: 105.9 The X
Based on Commissioner Gary Bettman’s answer to a query about streaming that was posed in Stockholm, I’m not sure the league understands how many of you can’t watch the game when it’s on the NHL Network, and we cannot help by providing the extra-legal techniques to do so.
Expected Penguins Lines
Kevin Hayes-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin-Anthony Mantha
Rutger McGroarty-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Boko Imama
Defense
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Ryan Graves-Connor Clifton
Goalie: Tristan Jarry, confirmed
Expected Lightning Lines
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel-Nick Paul-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Zemgus Girgensons-Yanno Gourde-Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas-Dominic James-Gage Goncalves
Defense
J.J. Moser-Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edourd D’Astous-Emil Lilleberg
Declan Carlile-Steven Santini
Special Teams
Penguins’ power play: 33.3%, 1st. Penguins penalty kill: 84.9%, 4th.
Lightning power play: 16.3%, 24th. Lightning penalty kill: 89.4%, 1st.
Penguins Game Notes
The Penguins have points in seven of their last 10 games against Tampa Bay (6-3-1), and wins in four of their last six visits to Benchmark International Arena (4-2-0) dating back to Oct. 12, 2021.
Road warriors? The Penguins have points in 10 of their 13 road games this season (7-3-3), and have scored three or more goals in nine of the 13 games.
Tough act to follow: Boko Imama made his season debut Monday and set a new career high in ice time (9:39). The Penguins have points in 12 of the 17 games (10-5-2) that Imama has played since joining the team at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
The Penguins have allowed the fourth-fewest goals against in the NHL (68) and have held their opponents to two goals or less 11 times this season (8-0-3 when doing so).
Sidney Crosby has multiple points in three consecutive games (5-1-6) and in four of his last five games.
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Categorized: Penguins Pregame