Game Preview: Detroit Red Wings @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11/13/2024

Who: Detroit Red Wings (6-7-1, 13 points, 7th place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (6-9-2, 14 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

That’s how you see: SportsNet Pittsburgh local, TNT national and streaming on Max

Pens’ way forward: The Pens head to Columbus for a game on Friday and make the quick trip home to face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Then there is a bit of a break in the schedule that comes with two days off, a home game against Tampa next Tuesday followed by two more days off.

Opponent Track: The Red Wings have been off for three days, and the break came at a good time, as they have lost their last two games by a combined 7-1 final score (3-1 to Toronto on Friday and 4-0 to the Rangers in their last hour out on Saturday). After tonight, Detroit flies to California for games against each of the three CA teams.

Season series: The Pens have already beaten the Red Wings once, a 6-3 win back on Oct. 10 in Joel Blomqvist’s NHL debut (seems like a long time ago now, doesn’t it?). After tonight there is another PIT/DET game and that will be December 31st.

Hidden State: Sidney Crosby has 46 points (18G-28A) in 36 career games against the Detroit Red Wings. He has multiple points in eight of his last 11 outings against them (7G-12A), stick with the Pens’ PR.

Get to know the Red Wings

Projected lines

FORWARD

Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond

Andrew Copp – JT Compher – Patrick Kane

Jonatan Berggren – Marco Kasper – Vladimir Tarasenko

Michael Rasmussen – Joe Veleno – Christian Fischer

DEFENSE PEOPLE

Simon Edvinsson / Moritz Seider

Ben Chiarot / Jeff Petry

Erik Gustafsson / Justin Holl

Goalkeepers: Cam Talbot announced start (Ville Husso backup)

Potential scratches: Tyler Motte, Albert Johansson, Alex Lyon (lower body injury)

IR: no

— Every PIT/DET game lately has been an absolute feeding frenzy for the Detroit top line. DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond all scored six points apiece. play against Pittsburgh last season. In the previous meeting last month, the trio combined for six points, led by Cat, who put up 2G+1A. Heaven only knows how the Penguins can limit the damage, but it’s no secret where the defensive focus will be tonight.

-Detroit is becoming a case study in rebuilds, they haven’t made the playoffs in nine seasons. The lineup has a few very nice pieces, but overall the team has lacked the traction to take the next step. They are just two points out of the final playoff spot, but have generated just 34 goals this season (31st in the NHL).

Player statistics

(via hockey db)

-Pittsburgh reportedly tried to sign Vladimir Tarasenko, and based on his start of just two goals and three points in 13 games, it looks like he might as well opt to take Detroit’s offer instead.

-Ville Husso’s situation has been similar to Tristan Jarry’s this season. Detroit waived Hussao not long after the Pens touched Husso up for six goals, and he headed to the AHL to work on his game. He’s back now and played just his second NHL game of the season Saturday against NYR (giving up three goals on 23 shots and taking the loss). There are differences, of course, since Husso’s contract is up after this year, but the Pens and Wings are in a similar boat, with their expensive and presumptive No. 1 goalie having to work his way back into good graces after some shaky play .

– And now to the pens

Infographic courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins PR

Projected lines

FORWARD

Drew O’Connor – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell

Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust

Jesse Puljujarvi – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Anthony Beauvillier – Sam Poulin – Valtteri Puustinen

DEFENSE PEOPLE

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany

Goalkeepers: Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist, Tristan Jarry

Potential scratches: Ryan Shea, Sam Poulin, Cody Glass (concussion) and one of the goalies

IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Kevin Hayes (week-to-week upper body injury)

– The pens practiced yesterday but didn’t take any lines, so take the above with a grain of salt. Changes are already here after Lars Eller’s trade. Tonight was supposed to mark the NHL season debut of Sam Poulin, who was recalled the other day and now has room to play in the lineup that now does not have Eller.

– As expected, Hayes and Glass were not on the ice at this point in both of their respective rehabs.

-Could this be the night for Jarry to get back into the game? It stands to reason that they probably shouldn’t shelve him forever after he played well in the AHL, and the team could use a rallying point of sorts right now. Blomqvist was just pulled, Nedeljkovic is always an option the team seems to prefer and defer these days, so it will be interesting to see how that decision plays out.

Frying the wings at home

The Penguins have been great lately at PPG Paints when Detroit comes to town. From Pen’s PR:

The Penguins enter today’s game with points in nine consecutive home games against Detroit, going 7-0-2 dating back to January 13, 2018. It is the team’s second-longest active home hitting streak against a team.

PIT’s longest home streak vs. one team:

Team Streak Record Start Date

Columbus 15 15-0-0 December 21, 2015
Detroit 9 7-0-2 January 13, 2018
Philadelphia 8 6-0-2 March 6, 2021
Vancouver 5 3-0-2 October 16, 2018
Nashville 4 4-0-0 December 28, 2019
St. Louis 4 4-0-0 December 4, 2019

During that streak, Pittsburgh has outscored Detroit by a 47-22 margin, and the team’s power play is operating at a 45.2% success rate (14/31).

The PK note for the Red Wings could prove important – Detroit is killing just 65.0% of opponent power plays this season (31st in the NHL). The Pens’ power play hasn’t been impressive lately, but tonight’s game could be an opportunity for them to get back on track in that department.