Game Preview: Penguins vs Coyotes

The Pittsburgh Penguins (19-13-6) are set to take on the Arizona Coyotes (13-20-5) at 7 PM eastern. The game will be available to watch on TVA Sports, Bally Sports Arizona, AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh, and ESPN+. 

Here are the Penguins’ projected lines:

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell

Danton Heinen – Jeff Carter – Kasperi Kapanen

Drew O’Connor – Teddy Blueger – Brock McGinn

Marcus Pettersson – Jan Rutta

Brian Dumoulin – Ty Smith

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Chad Ruhwedel

Casey DeSmith

Dustin Tokarski 

Healthy Scratch: D Mark Friedman

Injured: F Josh Archibald (lower body), D Jeff Petry (upper body), G Tristan Jarry (lower body), F Ryan Poehling (upper body), D Kris Letang (lower body)

Here are the Coyotes’ projected lines

Clayton Keller – Jack McBain – Nick Schmaltz 

Michael Carcone – Nick Bjugstad – Lawson Crouse 

Nick Ritchie – Barrett Hayton – Christian Fischer 

Dylan Guenther – Travis Boyd

Jacob Chychurn – Shayne Gostisbehere 

Jusso Valimaki – Josh Brown 

Patrik Nemeth – Troy Stecher 

J.J. Moser

Karel Vejmelka

Connor Ingram

Healthy Scratch: F Zack Kassian

Injured: F Liam O’Brien (upper body), F Matias Maccelli (lower body)

Both teams didn’t have a morning skate. The Penguins are expected to be without Poehling, Archibald, Jarry, and Petry. For the Coyotes, Dylan Guenther is expected to return to the lineup after competing in the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships, in which he won the gold medal with Canada. The Yotes are also expected to roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for this game. 

Players To Watch

PIT: F Jeff Carter: 2 goals, 4 points in last 5 games

ARI: F Barret Hayton: 5 assists, 6 points, +2 in last 5 games

Team Stats

Power Play Percentage

PIT: 21.5% (18th)

ARI: 20.7% (20th)

Penalty Kill Percentage 

PIT: 83.6% (3rd)

ARI: 72.4% (26th)

Faceoff Percentage 

PIT: 51.6% (10th)

ARI: 45.2% (30th)

Goals For Per Game

PIT: 3.24 (15th)

ARI: 2.79 (27th)

Goals Against Per Game

PIT: 3.05 (16th)

ARI: 3.66 (25th)

Season Series

The Penguins defeated the Arizona Coyotes in the Penguins 6-2 in their season opener on October 13th in Pittsburgh. This will be the final meeting between the Penguins and Coyotes this season. 

Head Coaches

PIT: Mike Sullivan

ARI: André Tourigny