The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Montreal Canadiens for the first time this season on Thursday night.
It will be the first of three meetings between these two teams after the Penguins won all three meetings last year. They outscored the Canadiens 18-6 in those three games.
The Penguins are coming off another brutal loss on Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks, and it was a game that they should never have lost. They had a power play with 17 seconds left in regulation, but the Ducks beat the buzzer with a shorthanded goal with .1 seconds left, thanks to forward Beckett Sennecke. The game then went to a shootout, which the Penguins lost.
It's the second-straight game that the Penguins surrendered a late lead in the third period when it looked like they were going to secure two points. If they find themselves in that situation again on Thursday night, they need to close the door since points are at a premium right now.
The lineup for the Penguins will mostly be the same outside of Tristan Jarry starting in goal. Arturs Silovs started in goal on Tuesday.
Here are the expected lines:
Forwards
Novak-Crosby-Rust
Mantha-Hayes-Brazeau
McGroarty-Kindel-Koivunen
Dewar-Heinen-Acciari
Defense
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Shea-Letang
Graves-Clifton
The Canadiens come into this game with a 15-11-3 record, good for fourth in the Atlantic Division. They have lost two in a row and are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
Rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler is set to make his NHL debut for the Canadiens in this contest. He has played in 15 games for Laval in the AHL this year and has compiled a 10-5 record with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens in points with 33 and Cole Caufield in goals with 16. Caufield is making a strong push for the Team USA Olympic roster, which should be finalized over the next few weeks.
Ivan Demidov is also off to a great start in his first full NHL season, racking up six goals and 23 points in 29 games. He's one of the strong contenders for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the NHL's top rookie.
Defenseman Lane Hutson is also doing his thing and has five goals and 22 points in 29 games.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Fans can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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