Pittsburgh Penguins @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: SN, NHLN, CBC, SN-PIT

Stream this game in Canada for free on gem.cbc.ca. If it doesn't work for you. Turn your ad blocker off. This is the main HNIC game, and something begun last season is continuing this year where Citytv shows the other Canadian contest of the night, so they have the Senators at Canadiens.

The Leafs last game was away on October 10 against the New Jersey Devils, which Toronto won by a score of 4-2 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 1-1-0 for a 0.5 Points %.

The Pittsburgh Penguins last played away on October 10 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Penguins won by a score of 6-3 in regulation, and their current league record is 1-1-0 for a 0.5 Points %.

Them

Who is this team now? Last year fortune favoured the Capitals while the Penguins didn't squeak into the last playoff spot in the east, like they seemed to deserve. There is no deserve in hockey, of course. But barely making the playoffs wouldn't have been much of an achievement.

Reporting from the AHL world has been extoling the strength of the WBS Penguins in the AHL, and if there's one thing that's unchanged, it's that Kyle Dubas knows how to build a stellar AHL franchise. He actually started there this summer with signings of a host of minor leaguers before he got into fleshing out the NHL team.

NHL signings included Bruins defender Matt Grzelcyk, surplus on the Bruins and top pair on the Penguins. Anthony Beauvillier, an underperforming forward from the Islanders who has some offensive ability, is slotted in next to Sidney Crosby. And of course Michael Bunting has landed the job of playing with Evgeni Malkin.

Rutger McGroarty, a 20-year-old rookie is an NCAA player they picked up in trade when he didn't want to sign with the Jets. Rookie Joel Blomqvist, who has had a trajectory out of Finland that mirrors Dennis Hildeby's made his debut in the win against the Red Wings.

This team is a spine of veterans, one on every line or pair, and a host of reclamation projects, rookies, unappreciated castoffs and market inefficiency choices. What it adds up to is going to take a few games to determine.

Lines

Last Game (2024-10-10) via Daily Faceoff and subject to change.

Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O'Connor
Rutger McGroarty - Lars Eller - Jesse Puljujärvi
Kevin Hayes - Cody Glass - Noel Acciari

Matt Grzelcyk - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves - Jack St. Ivany

Tristan Jarry
Joel Blomqvist

Us

Anthony Stolarz starts tonight in the home opener after having to miss the chance to play in his home state against the Devils.

The power play is not quite cooking, while the changes on the PK seem to be working well. The PK is a simple adjustment that has a less aggressive pressure, particularly from the defence. The power play is struggling at maintaining possession of the puck or doing much other than passing it around. The second unit is hampered by a lack of skill, not an excuse the first unit can claim.

The real news is that John Tavares was absent from morning skate, and rather than just slotting in a substitute for the morning this was the lineup:

Lines

Last Game (2024-10-10) via Daily Faceoff, if Tavares is well, this looks to be the lineup again, otherwise it will be the above.

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Max Domi - John Tavares - William Nylander
Max Pacioretty - Pontus Holmberg - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - David Kämpf - Bobby McMann

Morgan Rielly - Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins

Anthony Stolarz
Dennis Hildeby

The Game

I think we'd all like to see some improvement on the execution of the power play, but also a little less shooting from the weeds and a little more shooting from in tight – the game the Leafs produced in the second half against New Jersey – is the most important improvement.

Game Coverage