Game Preview: Winnipeg Jets @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/22/2024
Previewing the next hockey night in Pittsburgh!
Who: Winnipeg Jets (16-3-0, 32 points, 1st place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (7-10-4, 18 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally on Sportsnet Pittsburgh. Nationally on NHL Network
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens are back in action tomorrow against Utah and then get the reward of three days off before the Vancouver Canucks come to town for this year’s annual Thanksgiving Eve home game. Pittsburgh is on the road next Friday Nov. 29th against Boston.
Opponent Track: Dream start for the Jets, who opened the year a stunning 15-1-0 to set a record through 16 games. They had a slight drop off and problem last week losing 4-1 in Tampa and then dropping a 5-0 game in Florida before rebounding to defeat those same Panthers 6-3 in a rematch in Winnipeg on Tuesday in their last game out. The Jets will also have back-to-back considerations, they play in Nashville tomorrow night.
Season Series: Winnipeg already defeated Pittsburgh by a 6-3 score back on October 26th. The Pens had a 2-0 lead in that game, one of the eight multi-goal leads they’ve blown this season. The only surprise there is that somehow the Penguins were able to jump out to an early lead before the Jets woke up and pulled away.
Hidden Stat: Tristan Jarry has a 5-1-0 record with a 1.15 goals-against average, a .960 save percentage and two shutouts in six games all-time against the Jets (stick tap to Pens PR).
Getting to know the Jets
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Kyle Connor - Mark Scheifele - Gabriel Vilardi
Nino Niederreiter - Adam Lowry - Mason Appleton
Cole Perfetti - Vladislav Namestnikov - Nikolaj Ehlers
Morgan Barron - Rasmus Kupari - Alex Iafallo
DEFENSEMEN
Josh Morrissey / Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg / Neal Pionk
Haydn Fleury / Colin Miller
Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie
Scratches: David Gustafsson, Dylan Coghlan, Ville Heinola
IR: Logan Stanley
—This lineup is nice but doesn’t exactly scream on paper “this team almost never loses”. Great goaltending helps and a 35.7% power play with an NHL-high 20 goals on the season shows where the differentiator has been for the Jets so far this season. Shooting-wise they’ve been effective with a 13.8% rate at all situations, to help them to an NHL-high 80 goals. Which is basically 2024-25 Winnipeg in a very simplified manner, they’re an extremely hot-shooting team backed up by exceptional play in net. That’s a formidable combination to employ and explains why they have won 16 of their first 19 games.
—Winnipeg’s PK at 79.2% is nothing special (17th in the league) but they do have three goals while being shorthanded to be a threat.
Player stats
(via hockeydb)
—Unsurprisingly there are a lot of bright spots on a team that’s won 16 of their first 19 games. The Jets boast 11 players with double-digit points this early in the season (by comparison, Pittsburgh has played two more games than Winnipeg at the moment and only has four players in double-digits). Lots of players pulling in the right direction for them at the moment.
—Hellebuyck is probably the best goalie in the league right now and for a position filled with variability he’s among the most consistent too. He’s finished top-5 in Vezina voting five times in the last seven years and won the award twice (including last season in 2023-24). Hellebuyck picked up right where he’s left off by starting another Vezina-finalist worthy season so far. However, Hellebuyck only has a career 4-6-3 record against Pittsburgh (though he does carry a .928 save% and 2.38 GAA against the Pens).
—The Pens saw backup Eric Comrie in the first meeting this season and Comrie had a great game stopping 39 of 42 shots. Will Winnipeg go back to Comrie based on that and the fact they’re in Nashville for a divisional game tomorrow night?
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
Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Matt Grzelcyk / Jack St. Ivany
Owen Pickering / Ryan Shea
Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry
Potential Scratches: Kris Letang (illness), Valtteri Puustinen, Ryan Graves
IR: Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass (concussion), Blaze Lizotte
—Hayes and Letang were “full capacity” at practice yesterday and potentially could play tonight. A lineup move such as sending Ponomarev back to the AHL would be necessary to activate Hayes from the IR and fit the team under the 23 player limit. Else, the team could look to waive Puustinen in the near future and activate Hayes as soon as tomorrow.
—Ryan Shea had a great outing last game against Tampa, the advanced stats noticed it and GM Kyle Dubas and coach Mike Sullivan did too, heaping praise on Shea’s recent play. It’s telling Shea looks so much better with Pickering in his very first NHL games than Shea did dragging around Graves as his previous partner.
—The defensive configurations will make for an interesting lineup decision if Letang is able to play tonight. Does the team opt to scratch St. Ivany, who struggled against Tampa’s speed and might be in trouble in a featured role against Winnipeg? Can they figure out a way to get the struggling Grzelcyk a night off? Keeping the current third pair together makes sense, which could mean bad omens for St. Ivany’s playing spot tonight.
Pretty cool stat, Malkin’s next even strength goal will tie Jaromir Jagr for third most even strength goals in a Penguin sweater.