Game Preview: San Jose Sharks @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/16/2024

The Penguins will look to recover from another dispiriting loss as this weekend’s back-to-back continues.

Who: San Jose Sharks (5-10-3, 13 points, 7th place Pacific Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (6-10-3, 15 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: SportsNet Pittsburgh locally, NBC Sports California for the visitors, ESPN+ nationally

Pens’ Path Ahead: Tonight’s contest is the first in a five-game home stretch, which continues on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning followed by visits from the Winnipeg Jets, Utah Hockey Club and Vancouver Canucks over the following week.

Opponent Track: After opening the season on a nine-game losing streak and rebounding with three straight wins in late October, the Sharks have gone 2-3-1 in their last six contests. Most recently the Sharks conceded a 3-2 regulation loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Season Series: These two teams will meet again in late January during the sixth game of a seven-game road trip for the Pens.

Hidden Stat: Sharks defenseman Will Smith and Penguins winger Matt Nieto are the two youngest players in NHL history to score for the Sharks. Smith set the new mark on Oct. 31 at age 19 years and 228 days; Nieto previously set the standard of 20 years and 337 days from Oct. 8, 2013, per NHL PR.

Getting to know the Sharks

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Barclay Goodrow - Macklin Celebrini - Tyler Toffoli

William Eklund - Mikael Granlund - Fabian Zetterlund

Ty Dellandrea - Alex Wennberg - Will Smith

Carl Grundstrom - Nico Sturm (?) - Luke Kunn

DEFENSEMEN

Henry Thrun / Cody Ceci

Mario Ferraro / Timothy Liljegren

Jack Thompson / Jan Rutta

Goalies: Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek

IR: Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jake Walman

• Nico Sturm left Thursday’s loss to the Rangers after the first period with an upper-body injury. His status is uncertain for Saturday.
• The Sharks combined young phenoms Celebrini and Smith on the same power-play unit for the first time prior to the loss to the Rangers, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. Expect to see them work together again should the Pens take a penalty tonight.
• One-time Pens defenseman Cody Ceci is in San Jose this season after three campaigns with the Edmonton Oilers. He has three assists and is averaging over 22 minutes in ice time through 18 games.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• The Sharks have been for the most part splitting starts between Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek. Blackwood started on Thursday against the Rangers, so it could be Vanecek getting the nod tonight. The former Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils netminder has a career save percentage of .914 and an 8-1-3 record in 13 prior appearances against the Pens.
• Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini are the most exciting players to watch on this Sharks roster. They’re also two of the youngest players in the NHL, on one of the youngest rosters in the league.

That youth has led to some struggles with puck control early this season, most recently leading to a few costly turnovers on Thursday against the Rangers.

The Sharks recorded 21 giveaways to the Rangers’ seven during the 3-2 loss, displaying issues with puck control that head coach Ryan Warsofsky said were “a little disappointing.”

“We mismanaged some pucks, and a good team like that will make you pay,” Warsofsky said after the loss to the Rangers (h/t Curtis Pashelka of the Enterprise-Record.) “We didn’t do that in the first, and that’s why we had success. But we mismanaged pucks, soft puck play, and it’s in the back of our net.”

Warsofky concluded: “We’ve got to figure it out.”

This is a flawed, young team in the early stages of a rebuild. They are an opponent the Penguins could win against. Then again, so were the Blue Jackets, who headed into Friday night’s contest on a six-game losing streak before winning 6-2. The Pens will need more defensive structure and third-period energy if tonight’s result is going to be any different.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines (from Friday’s game)

FORWARDS

Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell

Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust

Jesse Puljujarvi - Drew O’Connor - Sam Poulin

Matt Nieto - Noel Acciari - Valtteri Puustinen

DEFENSEMEN

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Matt Grzelcyk / Jack St. Ivany

Ryan Graves / Ryan Shea

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic (Tristan Jarry got the start last night)

Potential Scratches: Kris Letang, Vasily Ponomarev, Owen Pickering

IR: Kevin Hayes (week-to-week upper body injury), Cody Glass (concussion), Blaze Lizotte

• Blaze Lizotte, who missed the beginning of the season with a concussion, is back on IR after a collision with a puck shot by Drew O’Connor.
• Nedeljkovic is set to return to the net after Tristan Jarry got his first start in almost a month last night. He last marked a win Nov. 2 against the Montreal Canadiens, and has gone 0-2-2 in four starts since.
• Nieto appeared in his first NHL game since Nov. 30 of last year on Friday night. He skated just over 13 minutes while recording one shot and a minus-1 rating.
• Kris Letang was sick and didn’t travel with the team to Columbus on Friday. His absence broke aa streak of 131 straight games that he, Malkin and Crosby had played together:

• Should Letang remain sidelined the Penguins could once more slot Jack St. Ivany into the lineup, or give WBS call-up Pickering a shot at the bottom pairing. At this point it seems like both he and Ponomarev should be getting shots at the roster. The Pens are now 1-5 in their last six, and they’re been outscored 26-13 over the span.
• Crosby needs one more assist to pass Joe Sakic for the 13th most in NHL history with 1,107 career helpers.