WHO: Buffalo sabers (1-3-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh penguins (2-2-0, 4 points)

When: 7:00 PM ET

How to watch: Nationally televised game on TNT and truTV, streamed on Max

The path of the pens forward: The Carolina Hurricanes make a trip to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game, then the Pens hit the road for a Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. start) against Winnipeg and stay out west next week to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Opponent track: The Sabers managed to record a big 5-2 victory over Florida in their last game on Saturday, and they needed it! Buffalo started 0-3 with a combined score of 10-3 in two losses to New Jersey and one to LA.

Season series: After tonight there will be no new BUF/PIT game until the Pens visit Buffalo on January 17th. The Pens return to Western New York one more time late in the season on March 27 to close out the three-game series.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games at PPG Paints Arena against Buffalo (per Pens PR).

Meet the Sabres

Projected lines

FORWARD

JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch

Zach Benson/Jiri Kulich-Dylan Cozens-Jack Quinn

Jason Zucker-Ryan McLeod-Jordan Greenway

Brock Malenstyn-Peyton Krebs-Sam Lafferty

DEFENDERS

Rasmus Dahlin / Henri Jokiharju

Bowen Byram/Owen Power

Mattias Samuelsson/Connor Clifton

Goalkeepers: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi

Possible scratches: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert

IR: Nicolas Aube-Kubel

-Very interesting team building this summer in Buffalo, they brought in a lot of new fast forwards (not counting McLeod, who also ranks high) and dropped a lot of slow skaters from last season. We’ll see if it’s worth it or not, but very few teams can change the dynamics of their roster as quickly as Buffalo.

—Tonight’s forward lines may be different than projected based on Peterka’s status. He has been out since suffering a concussion on October 5, but has completed full training. The left side of the lineup will depend on his availability and it seems possible he could play tonight.

Player Stats

(via hockeydb)

—It will be interesting to see what kind of season Thompson has. He emerged as a star in 2021-22 (38 goals, 68 points in 78 games), went completely supernova in 2022-23 (47 goals, 94 points) and came back down to earth last season (27 goals, 56 points in 71 games). games). He may not be a 90-point player forever, but the Sabers will need something more than what they got out of him last season.

—Levi, only 22, is one of the best young goaltenders around, but was up and down from the NHL to AHL last season in his first full season as a pro. As thin and weak as Canada’s goaltending is these days, Levi is a secretly a good candidate to at least participate in the selection for their 4 Nations and/or Olympic Games next year. He is very skilled, but still needs more spice and time to prove himself.

Sabers fighting each other

Skirmishes happen in hockey, but rarely this early in the season, with a team captain going after a teammate, as Buffalo saw on Monday.

From the Sabers website:

The skirmish that occurred between Sabers captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Peyton Krebs during Monday’s practice, Ruff said, is a byproduct of that intensity.

“It’s just that boys will be boys,” Ruff said. “I think Dahls took a hit earlier and then evened the score. I wouldn’t read too much into that. We want competitive practices, so I think emotions will run a little high every now and then, but that’s a good place to be.

The scuffle occurred after Dahlin gave Krebs a hip check during an exercise at LECOM Harborcenter. Krebs said he caught Dahlin with a high stick earlier in the session as he drove to the net. Both players attributed the moment to the emotions of competitive training.

“I thought that was really bad,” Dahlin said. “I shouldn’t have done that. But yes, it is competitive there, we want to push each other. So to that extent it’s good.”

Added Krebs: “We like to practice hard. That is the motto this year and that is what we do. You try to practice like you play and that’s what we do and on days off we’re buddies.”

The Sabres’ physicality has translated into the games heading into this season. They lead the NHL with an average of 28.0 goals per 60 minutes, including six goals each from Dahlin and Krebs.

“The buy-in has been great,” Ruff said. “It’s not about leading the league in goals. It’s about hitting at the right time. “I think we’ve been physical where we’ve been able to slow down the opposition, and I think anytime we can get in their way and slow them down, that’s a positive.”

When “boys will be boys,” this is a lot like parents forcing the young person to kiss, make up, and move on. It will be fascinating to see how that turns out.

And now the pens

Infographic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins

Projected lines

FORWARD

Anthony Beauvillier-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell

Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes-Cody Glass-Noel Acciari

DEFENDERS

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves/Ryan Shea

Goalkeepers: Tristan Jarry or Joel Blomqvist

Potential scratches: Jack St. Ivany, Rutger McGroarty, Valtteri Puustinen

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

–Yesterday was a bad day, not a practice day for the Pens who returned home after a few days on the road.

–Over/under the next 2.5 days until McGroarty is assigned to the AHL? He’s doing well, but he might as well be playing somewhere, and the rest of the lineup is encouraging. McGroarty’s NHL career will continue sooner or later, but until someone else gets hurt or starts struggling, there isn’t much room for him in the inn.

Sid 1,600

Can Sidney Crosby reach the 1,600 career point mark tonight? History says so, Crosby is the active scoring leader against the Sabers with 82 points in 59 games (Malkin is second with 69 points in 53 games).

Stick with Pens PR with the deets:

After registering an assist on Saturday night in Toronto, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby enters tomorrow’s game one point away from becoming the 10th player in NHL history to reach 1,600 points in the regular season. He wants to achieve this milestone in the fifth fewest games:

Player GP up to 1,600 points
Wayne Gretzky667
Mario Lemieux 812
Marcel Dionne 1,164
Jaromir Jagr 1,274
Sidney Crosby 1,277*
Steve Yzerman 1,294
Joe Sakic 1,329
Mark Messier 1,332
Ron Francis 1,456
Gordie Howe 1,482

*Including tonight’s match

When Crosby reaches point 1,600, it will be the first time that milestone has been reached by an NHL player since Jaromir Jagr on October 6, 2011.