Saturday’s game is the return of the Black Skate jersey. Bring out your Black Skate gear if you are heading down to Rogers Arena for the 7:00 p.m. puck drop.
As of Friday morning, the Penguins sit with a 3-4-1 record. They will be on the second night of a back-to-back as they matchup with the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Vancouver is the last stop of their four-game road trip that has seen them play all four Western Canadian teams.
This Penguins team is led by their veterans and is the second-oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 29.6 years old. They are also second in the league for game experience, with 12,400 games played on their roster.
Evgeni Malkin is one of those veterans who is leading the way for the Pens this season. The 38-year-old leads the Pens with 11 points (2g-9a) through eight games. He has picked up four of his nine assists on the power play.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Lars Eller and Rickard Rakell are tied for the team lead in goals with four each this season – all eight of those goals coming at five-on-five.
- The leading power play goal scorer for the Pens is Bryan Rust with two man-advantage markers in his six games played.
- Sidney Crosby will be flanked by Drew O’Connor and Rust on their top line, but we have seen a lot of former Canuck Anthony Beauvillier on Crosby’s line in O’Connor’s spot.
- Joel Blomqvist has been the lead in the crease for the Pens so far this season, with three starts and one relief appearance. He’s got four starts and holds a 2-2-0 record.
- Tristan Jarry has three starts this season but will not be available on Friday or Saturday as he was sent back to Pittsburgh. That means that Alex Nedeljkovic will be in the equation, and we will have to wait and see who Pittsburgh goes with against the Oilers on Friday. Nedeljkovic started on Tuesday against the Flames, and that makes him our projected starter against the Canucks on Saturday.
- In terms of team stats, the Penguins rank 12th on the power play with a 24% conversion percentage.
- On the penalty kill, they are clicking at 82.6% and that ranks them 10th in the league.
- In the faceoff dot, they rank 4th in the league with a 55.8% win-rate. Noel Acciari has won 61.9% of his draws, while Crosby leads them with 189 faceoffs taken and has a 57.7% win-rate in the dot.
The Story: Time to Practice
After a busy road trip, the Canucks have had three days without a game and that gave the group a chance to practice twice and work on improving their understanding of the system in the defensive zone.
J.T. Miller spoke about the practice time being important over the past few days.
“We want to tighten up some holes in our defence and coverages, some of the stuff we were really good at last year,” said Miller. “We have confidence again, we just need to make sure we do it again and again.”
The head coach specifically mentioned defending the net front and how assistant coach Adam Foote used some video before practice to help deliver a point and emphasize a part of their game that they want to improve.
“I really liked the practice today coming off a day off,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “We worked on some D-zone stuff, actually, Footy put a really good video together about protecting the ice a little bit better around our net. It was really clear, and I thought the guys took it to practice and applied it.”
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five
Conor Garland: 2g-3a-5p
Teddy Blueger: 2g-2a-4p
Brock Boeser: 2g-2a-4p
J.T. Miller: 2g-2a-4p
Kiefer Sherwood: 1g-3a-4p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-3a-4p
When and Where to Watch
Saturday’s game will be available for your viewing pleasure on Sportsnet for Hockey Night in Canada. Game time is 7:00 p.m. PT and it’s going to be the return of the Black Skate jersey, so get excited for that!
If you’re looking for the radio broadcast, look to Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network. That is where you will find play-by-play voice, Brendan Batchelor doing what he does best.
