The Pens attempt to take the season series vs. Toronto while on a five-game win streak.
Fresh off of a big Thanksgiving Showdown win over Philadelphia, the Penguins are set to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. It makes the third meeting between the teams in the last two weeks and marks the final time they'll face the Leafs this year in the regular season. The series is currently tied at 1-1 so the winner of this game takes the season set.
The Pens are also attempting to extend their current win streak to six games, lengthening their longest-winning spell of the year. They've gone 7-2-1 overall in their last 10 beyond this, only losing twice in regulation in that time. They're settling into a comfortable rhythm of play which is showing not just in that record but in performance metrics.
Pittsburgh's penalty kill has jumped up to 80.6% efficiency. The eleventh-best PK in the league. Likewise, they remain hot in the faceoff circle as the tenth-best team. And are still high in goals for per game at sixth best in the NHL. Individually numerous Penguins are hitting personal best performance markers from the top forwards to the depth players as the fourth line of Ryan Poehling, Teddy Blueger, and Josh Archibald did the heavy lifting in Philadelphia producing seven points and three out of the four goals.
Goalie Tristan Jarry has also quietly remediated his spotty record from just weeks ago. He's managed to improve his to 8-3-2. Casey DeSmith will now get his chance to work on rehabbing his season stats tonight as he gets the start on the second half of this back-to-back game scenario.
The Pens and Leafs game will be broadcast on NHL Network nationally in the US and on Hockey Night In Canada in Canada so both countries will be able to tune into this one beyond the local TV markets. Now on to the game info.
Game Info:
Pens Game #22: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Date: November 27, 2022
Time: 7 PM (ET)
Place: Pittsburgh, PA
Venue: PPG Paints Arena
Broadcasts: Local- ATTSN, National- NHLN
Social Media Hashtags #: #LetsGoPens #LeafsForever
Team Matchup:
Records- PIT: 11-7-3, TOR: 12-5-5
Last 10- PIT: 7-2-1, TOR: 6-1-3
Standings- PIT: 12th, TOR: 4th
Points- PIT: 25, TOR: 29
Streaks- PIT: 5 Wins, TOR: 2 Wins
Season Series- 1-1 Tie
Series Goals For- PIT: 6, TOR: 7
Team Stats Comparison:
Goalie Matchup:
Projected Starting Goalies-
-CASEY DESMITH- #1
[Pittsburgh Penguins]
Bio Info: 6' 0", 181 lbs. DOB: 8/13/1991 (31). From: Rochester, NH.
Drafted: Undrafted; Experience: 5th Season.
Record: 3-4-1, 2.88 GAA, .909 SV%
Career vs. TOR: 1-2-0, 2.35 GAA, .915 SV%
🆚
-ERIK KALLGREN- #50
[Toronto Maple Leafs]
Bio Info: 5' 11", 157 lbs. DOB: 10/14/1996 (26). From: Stockholm, Sweden.
Drafted: 2015- Rd 7, Pk 183 (ARI). Experience: 2nd Season.
Record: 2-2-4, 2.87 GAA, .891 SV%
Career vs. PIT: 0-1-0, 3.08 GAA, .864 SV%
Penguins Update:
Tonight’s game kicks off a five-game homestand for the Pens who have spent the majority of the first two months of the season on the road.
Teddy Blueger managed his first career three-assist game last night in Philadelphia, a positive turn coming off of a major injury that had sidelined him for the first chunk of the season.
-Injury Report-
(None)
-Pens Lines-
The projected Penguins lines for Saturday, November 26, 2022, vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs:
(Forwards)
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
(Defense)
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
P. O. Joseph - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
(Special Teams)
PP1: Malkin, Crosby, Guentzel, Petry, Letang
PP2: Carter, Rust, Rakell, Zucker, Joseph
PK1: Blueger, McGinn, Dumoulin, Rutta
PK2: Poehling, Archibald, Petry, Pettersson
Maple Leafs Update:
Toronto also played last night and is in a back-to-back game scenario. So there is no rest day differential. The Leafs beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, in a game where former Penguin Cup-winning goalies dueled: Matt Murray for Toronto and Marc-Andre Fleury for Minnesota.
-2022-23 Team Leaders vs. Penguins-
Goals: Michael Bunting, William Nylander- 2.
Assists: Morgan Reilly- 3.
Points: Michael Bunting, William Nylander, Morgan Reilly- 3.
Shots: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner- 7.
Plus/Minus: Morgan Reilly- +3.
Hits: Jordie Benn- 6.
Blocks: Mark Giordano- 8.
Takeaways: 5-way tie- 2.
-Injury Report-
-Jordie Benn (D): IR, upper-body, week-to-week.
-T.J. Brodie (D): IR, oblique, week-to-week.
-Kyle Clifford (D): IR, shoulder, day-to-day.
-Carl Dahlstrom (D): IR, shoulder, out until April.
-Jake Muzzin (D): LTIR, spine, out indefinitely.
-Morgan Reilly (D): LTIR, knee, week-to-week.
-Ilya Samsonov (G): IR, knee, day-to-day.
For The Penguins: Sidney Crosby. Yes again! Our Captain is just on fire this year. Crosby has scored in five of the last six games. And has three multi-point games in his last five played. He's put up a point (one goal, one assist) in every game against Toronto this year.
For The Maple Leafs: John Tavares. All the Captains are doing all of the things in this matchup! Tavares, Toronto’s Captain, is riding a four-game point streak. He has points in six of his last seven games played and goals in three straight games. He also scored a goal and an assist against the Penguins on November 15th.
