It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh!
Who: Buffalo Sabres (1-3-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2-2-0, 4 points)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Nationally televised game on TNT and truTV, streaming on Max
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Carolina Hurricanes take a trip to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game, then the Pens hit the road for a Sunday afternoon (3pm start) against Winnipeg and stay out West to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver next week.
Opponent Track: The Sabres were able to get a big 5-2 win over Florida on Saturday in their last game, and they needed it! Buffalo started 0-3 with a combined score of 10-3 in two losses to New Jersey and one to LA.
Season Series: After tonight there won’t be another BUF/PIT game until the Pens make a visit to Buffalo on January 17th. The Pens return to Western New York one more time, late in the season on March 27th to close out the three-game series set.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games at PPG Paints Arena versus Buffalo (per Pens PR).
Getting to know the Sabres
Projected lines
FORWARDS
JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson/ Jiri Kulich – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Jordan Greenway
Brock Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty
DEFENSEMEN
Rasmus Dahlin / Henri Jokiharju
Bowen Byram / Owen Power
Mattias Samuelsson / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi
Possible scratches: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert
IR: Nicolas Aube-Kubel
—Very interesting team building this summer in Buffalo, they brought in a ton of new fast forwards (doesn’t count McLeod who ranks highly as well) and dropped a lot of slow skaters from last season. We’ll see if it pays off or not, but very few teams are able to quickly change the dynamic of their roster as much as Buffalo has.
—Tonight’s forward lines could be different than projected based on Peterka’s status. He’s been out since suffering a concussion on Oct 5 but took in a full practice. The left side of the lineup will be dependent on his availability and it sounds possible he will be cleared to play tonight.
Player stats
(via hockeydb)
—It’ll be interesting to see what kind of season Thompson has. He emerged as a star in 2021-22 (38 goals, 68 points in 78 games), went full supernova in 2022-23 (47 goals, 94 points) then kinda came back to earth last season (27 goals, 56 points in 71 games). He might not be a 50ish goal, 90 point player forever, but the Sabres will need a little more than what they got out of him last season.
—Levi, just 22, is one of the best young goalie prospects out there but was up/down last season from the NHL to AHL in his first full season as a pro. As thin and weak as Canada’s goaltending is these days, Levi is a sneaky good candidate to at least make the roster for their 4 Nations and/or Olympics next year. He’s very skilled but still needs more seasoning and time to prove himself.
Sabres fighting each other
Skirmishes happen in hockey, but rarely so early in the season and involving a team’s captain going after a teammate like Buffalo saw on Monday.
Here’s the scrum that just went on in practice between Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs.
Looks like they collided at full speed during a drill.
Teammates broke it up right away. pic.twitter.com/bPAPnRnNvd
— Sara Holland (@SaraaHolland) October 14, 2024
From the Sabres website:
The skirmish that occurred between Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Peyton Krebs during Monday’s practice, Ruff said, is a byproduct of that intensity.
“It’s just boys will be boys,” Ruff said. “I think Dahls got bumped before and then he evened up the score. I wouldn’t read too much into that. We want competitive practices, so I think every now and then the emotions will run a little bit high, but that’s a good place to be.”
The scuffle ensued after Dahlin delivered a hip check on Krebs during a drill at LECOM Harborcenter. Krebs said he had caught Dahlin with a high stick while driving to the net earlier in the session. Both players chalked up the moment to the emotions of a competitive practice.
“That was really bad by me,” Dahlin said. “I shouldn’t have done that. But, yeah, it’s competitive out there, we want to push each other. So, it’s good to that extent.”
Added Krebs: “We like to practice hard. That’s been the motto this year and that’s what we’re doing. You try to practice like you play and that’s what we’re doing and on off-days we’re buddies.”
The Sabres’ physicality has translated to games to start this season. They lead the NHL with an average of 28.0 hits per 60 minutes, including six hits each from Dahlin and Krebs.
“The buy-in has been great,” Ruff said. “It’s not about leading the league in hits. It’s just about hitting at the right time. I think we’ve engaged physically where we’ve been able to slow the opposition up, and I think any time we can get in their way and slow them up, it’s a positive.”
If “boys will be boys” this reads a lot like the parents forcing youngster to kiss and make up and move on. It’ll be fascinating to see how that plays out.
And now for the Pens
Infographic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Anthony Beauvillier – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Jesse Puljujarvi
Kevin Hayes – Cody Glass – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves / Ryan Shea
Goalies: Tristan Jarry or Joel Blomqvist
Potential Scratches: Jack St. Ivany, Rutger McGroarty, Valtteri Puustinen
IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Alex Nedeljkovic, Blake Lizotte, Vasily Ponomarev
—Yesterday was an off day, not a practice one for the Pens who were returning back home from a few days on the road.
—Over/under the next 2.5 days until McGroarty is assigned to the AHL? He’s been fine but might as well play somewhere, and the rest of the lineup has been encouraging. McGroarty’s NHL career will continue sooner than later, but until someone else gets hurt of starts to struggle there’s not much room at the inn for him.
Sid 1,600
Can Sidney Crosby get to the 1,600 career point mark tonight? History says so, Crosby is the active scoring leader against the Sabres with 82 points in 59 games (Malkin is second with 69 points in 53 games).
Stick tap to Pens PR with the deets:
After registering an assist on Saturday night in Toronto, Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby enters tomorrow’s contest one point shy of becoming the 10th player in NHL history to record 1,600 regular-season points. He’s looking to reach this milestone in the fifth fewest games:
Player GP to 1,600 Points
Wayne Gretzky 667
Mario Lemieux 812
Marcel Dionne 1,164
Jaromir Jagr 1,274
Sidney Crosby 1,277*
Steve Yzerman 1,294
Joe Sakic 1,329
Mark Messier 1,332
Ron Francis 1,456
Gordie Howe 1,482*Including tonight’s game
When Crosby gets to point 1,600, it will mark the first time that this milestone has been reached by an NHL player since Jaromir Jagr on Oct. 6, 2011.