The Pittsburgh Penguins will face one of the best teams in the NHL to start the season on Saturday.
They’ll be in Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils, who have won 10 of their first 14 games and are tied with them for first in the Metropolitan Division. Devils forward Jack Hughes has been lighting the league on fire, compiling 10 goals and 18 points in 14 games. He’s a strong contender for the Hart Trophy after the first month of the season.
Jesper Bratt has also been great, racking up five goals and 15 points in 14 games. Dawson Mercer is second on the team in goals with eight and third on the team in points with 14.
The Devils are coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Bratt scored the overtime winner for the Devils.
The Penguins are coming off a 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday and are now 9-4-2 to start the season. They blew a three-goal lead for a second-straight game, but were able to rally in the third period thanks to a game-winning goal from Bryan Rust.
Arturs Silovs will start in goal for a second-straight game after he was steady on Thursday. The Penguins are taking it easy with prospect Sergei Murashov and potentially saving his NHL debut for Sunday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Kevin Hayes, who has missed the first 15 games of the season due to an injury he suffered at the beginning of training camp, will make his season debut for the Penguins. He will slot in for Philip Tomasino, who continues to struggle.
Here were the lines at practice on Friday:
Forwards
Rust-Crosby-Kindel
Novak-Malkin-Mantha
Koppanen-Hayes-Koivunen
Dewar-Lizotte-Heinen
Defense
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Shea-Letang
Graves-Clifton
Dumba-Brunicke
Puck drop for this contest will be at 12:30 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. You can also listen to the game on 105.9 ‘The X.’
Bookmark THN – Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.