Game Preview: Utah Hockey Club @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/23/2024

The Pens are facing off against Utah for the first time in franchise history.

Who: Utah Hockey Club (7-9-3, 17 points, 6th place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (7-11-4, 18 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Locally on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Utah16, nationally on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens have three days off before wrapping up the homestand on Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Opponent Track: Utah enters this contest against the Penguins on a three-game losing streak, during which the team has been outscored 11-4. Most recently Utah was shutout 1-0 in a road loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

Season Series: The Penguins are scheduled to play their first game in Salt Lake City on Dec. 29.

Hidden Stat: Sidney Crosby dropped the gloves for just the ninth time in his career during last night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Getting to know Utah

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Clayton Keller - Nick Bjugstad - Dylan Guenther

Matias Maccelli - Logan Cooley - Lawson Crouse

Alex Kerfoot - Barrett Hayton - Nick Schmaltz

Jack McBain - Kevin Stenlund - Michael Carcone

DEFENSEMEN

Mikhail Sergachev / Olli Maatta

Ian Cole / Maveric Lamoureux

Michael Kesselring / Robert Bortuzzo

Goalies: Karel Vejmelka, Jaxson Stauber

IR: John Marino, Sean Durzi, Connor Ingram

• Utah recalled AHL goaltender Jaxson Stauber on an emergency basis on Wednesday before placing Connor Ingram on IR with an upper-body injury. Given that Utah plays back-to-back games this weekend against the Penguins and Maple Leafs, the visitors seem likely to save current No. 1 netminder Karel Vejmelka for Toronto, and put Stauber in net tonight.
• If Stauber plays, it will mark his first NHL action since he played six games for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 season. He recorded a .902 save percentage in 31 appearances for the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners last season.
• Ex-Penguins abound in Utah. Nick Bjustad is centering the top line. Olli Maatta, Ian Cole and Robert Bortuzzo are skating on three different pairings, and John Marino is on IR after undergoing back surgery in October.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• The Utah Hockey Club have some of the least effective special teams in the league, with both their power play (12.7 percent, 30th in the NHL) and penalty kill (76.1 percent, 26th in the NHL) struggling in the early stretch.
• Even-strength scoring hasn’t come easily either, with Utah ranking in the middle of the pack with 1.84 even-strength goals per game.

Those issues led to some major line-shuffling ahead of Thursday’s loss to the Bruins on both 5v4 and 5v5. From head coach André Tourigny on the lineup changes, per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune:

“It’s a message of accountability. Guenther and Keller have chemistry a little bit before, so try to spark that. … I think Maccelli is capable of finding Crouse and Crouse knows where to get into space. Hopefully that will spark him offensively.”

Utah was unable to find the back of the net in Boston, but the lines that debuted on Thursday could get another shot against Pittsburgh as the NHL’s newest club works to right the proverbial ship.

Speaking of teams in need of ship-righting...

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell

Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust

Jesse Puljujarvi - Drew O’Connor - Sam Poulin

Matt Nieto - Noel Acciari - Vasily Ponomarev

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Owen Pickering / Ryan Shea

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic (Tristan Jarry started last night)

Potential Scratches: Valtteri Puustinen, Ryan Graves, Jack St. Ivany

IR: Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass (concussion), Blaze Lizotte

• Checking in on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton:

• Sidney Crosby remains one goal away from No. 600.
• Evgeni Malkin is one even-strength goal away from No. 320, which will tie Jaromir Jagr for the third-most in Pens history.
• Friday night was the fourth time in six starts that Tristan Jarry has allowed a goal on the first shot he faced.
• The Penguins have lost five of their last six games, and haven’t won in regulation since Nov. 8.
• Pittsburgh and Utah are two of the six remaining NHL teams who have not yet won eight games this season.