Game Preview: Minnesota Wild @ Pittsburgh Penguins 10/29/2024

The Penguins will celebrate Marc-Andre Fleury in what’s slated to be his last game in Pittsburgh as a player.

Who: Minnesota Wild (5-1-2, 12 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (3-6-1, 7 points)

When: 7 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Fanduel Sports Network (Bally Sports’ new name as of Oct. 21) and SportsNet Pittsburgh

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are sticking in Pittsburgh for the rest of the week, with a Halloween night game against the Anaheim Ducks followed by a Saturday tilt against the Montreal Canadiens. Then it’s back on the road next week for a trio of division matchups with the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.

Opponent Track: The Wild had won four straight games heading into last weekend (and had collected at least one point in seven games to start the season) before Saturday, when the team dropped its first regulation contest with a 7-5 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Season Series: These two teams split last season’s series, with the Penguins claiming a 4-3 road win in December and losing 3-2 at home in February.

Getting to know the Wild

Projected lines (from Friday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy

Marcus Foligno – Frederick Gaudreau – Yakov Trenin

Jakub Lauko – Marat Khusnutdinov – Liam Ohgren

DEFENSEMEN

Jacob Middleton / Brock Faber

Jonas Brodin / Zach Bogosian

Jon Merrill / Declan Chisholm

Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury, Filip Gustavsson

Possible scratches: Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Hartman

IR: Graeme Clarke, Troy Grosenick

• Jared Spurgeon rejoined the Wild for a full practice after missing six games with a lower-body injury, but head coach John Hynes hadn’t decided as of Monday if he’ll be ready to go for Tuesday’s game (h/t John Shipley of TwinCities.com.) If he’s back, Wild defense pairings could look closer to this:

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• Kirill Kaprizov, All-Star and 40-goal scorer for the last three seasons, is off to a hot start to the 2024-25 season. He has four goals and 11 assists through eight games, including a five-game multipoint streak, and has only been held off the scoreboard entirely once this season.

Welcome back and goodbye, Marc-Andre Fleury

Tonight is set to be Fleury’s last game in Pittsburgh.

His wife Veronique and their three children, Estelle, Scarlett and James, will be in Pittsburgh to see his return to the ice at PPG Paints Arena, per team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.

“I think they can see maybe they can see how good the fans have been to me over the years and stuff, so it will be cool to share with them,” Fleury said about his family being in attendance, per Crechiolo. “Obviously, I want to play good, I want to do well. Put on a good show one last time here. But also help my team.. so, I don’t want to get sidetracked out there.

“But at the same time, I want to enjoy the game. I have my family here, I’ve got some friends too, my mom. It will be special.”

Fleury joined the Pens with the No. 1 pick of the 2003 draft, starting during the run to the 2009 Stanley Cup and working with Matt Murray to backstop the team to the 2016 and 2017 titles. By the time he was exposed in the 2017 expansion draft to the Vegas Golden Knights he had set franchise records with 375 wins and 62 playoff wins.

Fleury, who turns 40 next month, is now in his eighth season since leaving the Penguins. He has made two starts for the Wild, making 30 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 12 and recording 24 saves last Thursday in a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

And now for the Pens

Infographic courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins PR

Projected lines (from Monday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Evgeni Malkin – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell

Anthony Beauvillier – Kevin Hayes – Jesse Puljujarvi

Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Noel Acciari

Michael Bunting – Cody Glass – Valtteri Puustinen

DEFENSEMEN

Marcus Pettersson / Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea, Valtteri Puustinen

IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Blake Lizotte, Vasily Ponomarev

• It sounds like the Penguins are expecting Bryan Rust to miss some time. Head coach Mike Sullivan said on Monday that he was still be evaluated by doctors after suffering a lower-body injury during Saturday’s loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
• Matt Nieto rejoined the Pens as a full-contact player in Monday’s practice. He last skated in NHL action on Nov. 30, 2023 game and underwent knee surgery in January.

• Blake Lizotte, who suffered a concussion in the preseason, also joined practice but skated in a no-contact jersey.
• The Pens are trying to shake the team out of their current slump by putting Malkin and Crosby together on the top line. The defensive pairs remained the same in Monday’s practice.
• The Penguins have dropped five straight and were outside 17-9 in Western Canada. They’ll look to find some answers outside of Blomqvist or Nedeljkovic tonight.