A preview of the Flames.
When and where: 10 p.m., EST, General Motors Place Rogers Arena.
TV: ATT Sportsnet.
Record: 6-5-0, 12 points. The Canucks are in second place in the Smythe Pacific Division.
Leading Scorer: Center Bo Horvat, 9 points (7 goals, 2 assists).
Last Game: 4-1 home loss to the Coyotes, Thursday. Goaltender Anders Nilsson made 26 saves for the Canucks.
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Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 overtime road win, Oct. 16. Left winger Tim Schaller had two assists for the Canucks.
The last time the Penguins played the Canucks, this happened:
Probable goaltenders: Casey DeSmith (1-0-2, 2.58 GAA, .922 SV%, 0 SO) for the Penguins. Jacob Markstrom (3-2-0, 2.93 GAA, .911 SV%, 0 SO) for the Canucks.
Injuries: For the Penguins, center Derick Brassard (undisclosed) is out. Defenseman Justin Schultz (left leg) is on injured reserve. For the Canucks, center Elias Petterson (head) was activated from injured reserve. Defenseman Chris Tanev (hip) is out. Left winger Sven Baertschi (head), center Jay Beagle (forearm) and defenseman Alexander Edler (knee) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins’ lines and pairings at today’s morning skate:
The Canucks’ lines and pairings at today’s morning skate:
Pregame notes:
-From Josh Yohe in Vancouver:
• Across the continent, the Penguins awoke to awful news in their city.
• Brassard won’t play against the Canucks tonight. He missed practice on Wednesday and didn’t play for the final nine minutes of the victory in Calgary on Thursday. Mike Sullivan confirmed that he has been plagued by the lower-body injury for the past few days. Sullivan said that Brassard is “day to day,” thus, it isn’t believed that the injury is serious.
• This means Daniel Sprong will be back in the lineup. He was a healthy scratch against the Flames. The Penguins don’t play again until Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see if his ice time is limited. The fourth line will probably feature Sprong, Derek Grant, and Dominik Simon. Look for Bryan Rust to head back to the top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. This will allow the second line to remain intact and will give Sullivan the opportunity to deploy Matt Cullen, Patric Hornqvist, and Riley Sheahan as his third line. That trio has been quite effective.
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• Look for the blue line to remain intact from the performance in Calgary, which means Chad Ruhwedel will likely be in the lineup again.
• DeSmith will get the start in goal for the Penguins, his first start since losing to the Canucks on Pittsburgh ice two weeks ago. The plan before the road trip was for DeSmith to start this game.
• Look for the Penguins to attempt pressure the Canucks’ blue line. Derrick Pouliot has struggled the past two games, coughing up turnovers in consecutive games that have led to goals.
• The Penguins have struggled in the final game of this road trip in the past and have endured a couple of awful games in Vancouver. They’re already 3-0 on this trip, so a loss wouldn’t exactly be a disaster. That said, a 4-0 road trip through Toronto and western Canada would be quite the October statement.
From Seth Rorabaugh on his Pittsburgh-area couch:
• Guentzel has goals in all five of his career games against the Canucks (six goals, one assist).
• Canucks right winger Brock Boeser will return after missing two games due to a groin injury. Petterson will return after missing six games due to a head injury.
• The referees are Kyle Rehman and Ian Walsh. The linesmen are Steve Barton and Travis Gawryletz.
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Postgame notes
Observations from the Penguins’ 5-0 victory at Vancouver.
Statistically speaking
• The Penguins led in shots, 35-29.
• Daniel Sprong led the game with six shots.
• Center Tyler Motte led the Canucks with four shots.
• Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher led the game with 23:05 of ice time on 23 shifts.
• Kris Letang led the Penguins with 21:07 of ice time on 25 shifts.
• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 34-29 (54 percent).
• Derek Grant was 8 for 9 (89 percent).
• Canucks center Bo Horvat was 12 for 22 (55 percent).
• Motte led the game with four blocked shots.
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• Matt Cullen led the Penguins with two blocked shots.
Potpourri
• The Canucks staged a moment of silence in recognition of the victims from Saturday’s mass shooting in Squirrel Hill:
In the wake of Saturday’s tragedy at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Rogers Arena observed a moment of silence before the pic.twitter.com/wUjtwy2dNC
— Stadium (@WatchStadium) October 28, 2018
• This is an odd “trend” for the Penguins. In each of their shutouts this road trip, the Penguins’ goaltenders took a penalty.
During last Thursday’s 3-0 victory at Toronto, Matt Murray took a delay of game minor during a 38-save effort. Saturday, Casey DeSmith had a tripping minor in addition to his 29 saves.
Hockey-Reference’s game records only go back to the mid-1980s but a shutout with a goaltender taking a penalty appears to be a fairly common occurrence for the Penguins.
• DeSmith’s shutout was the second of his career. His first was a 35-save effort in a 4-0 home win against the Senators – last season’s finale – on April 6.
• Jamie Oleksiak recorded an assist and extended a career-best scoring streak to three games.
• Sprong established a new career high with seven shots. His previous mark of six was achieved twice in separate games last season.
Historically speaking
• The Penguins’ last shutout of the Canucks was a 3-0 road win March 11, 2017. Murray made 27 saves.
• Olli Maatta (95 points) surpassed Paul Baxter, Wally Boyer and Ulf Samuelsson (94 points each) for 92nd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• Crosby (1,128) surpassed Mike Bossy and Joe Niewendyk (1,126 each) for 58th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.
Visually speaking
-Highlights:
(Photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports)