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Penguins Game 45, Rusty Razor: Lines, Goalies, and How to Watch vs. Lightning
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- Penguins Game 45, Rusty Razor: Lines, Goalies, and How to Watch vs. Lightning
Pittsburgh Penguins game vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-9) will get some help back in their lineup, but will need it as they also got some bad injury news that will hamper the Penguins' top-three-ranked power play as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-13-3) at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m., and the Armstrong Choir does the National Anthem.
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The Penguins will get Bryan Rust back in the lineup (unless something changes between the morning skate and warm-up). However, the team also learned that defenseman Erik Karlsson will be out for at least two weeks with a lower-body injury.
As a result, coach Dan Muse shuffled the defense pairs at the morning skate.
The Penguins are in the midst of an especially arid dry spell. They lost both games over the weekend, scoring a combined one goal. They lost 1-0 Sunday to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.
Stuart Skinner was the hard-luck loser, stopping 17 of 18 shots. A first-period rebound goal by Viktor Arvidsson was the game's only tally.
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The Penguins had a sluggish start, but rallied to dominate Boston for much of the final 30 minutes. Yet, the frustrated crew couldn't get the extra puck to beat Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo , who has a career .929 save percentage against the Penguins.
The team has lost two in a row, following a six-game winning streak.
Conversely, the Tampa Bay Lightning have the longest current winning streak in the NHL at 10 games. They've slayed giants on the road, beating the nearly unbeatable Colorado Avalanche and hated rival, the Florida Panthers .
Monday, Tampa Bay whizzed past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1. However, the game could result in long-term trouble as center Brayden Point suffered what looked to be a serious lower-body injury.
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Point left the game with a right-knee injury. Coach Jon Cooper acknowledged the potential severity, but Point did travel with the team to Pittsburgh .
"I think we all saw it," Cooper told the Tampa Tribune after the game. "So, let's see."
Point could join top defenseman Victor Hedman on the Lightning's injury list.
Arturs Silovs will start in goal for the Penguins. Andrei Vasilevskiy is Tampa Bay's likely starter, as backup Jonas Johansson played Monday.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Expected Penguins Lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
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Evgeni Malkin-Ben Kindel-Egor Chinakhov
Anthony Mantha -Tommy Novak-Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Defense
Parker Wotherspoon-Jack St. Ivany
Ryan Shea-Connor Clifton
Goalie: Arturs Silovs , confirmed
Lightning Lines
Gage Goncalves- Brayden Point -Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons-Yanni Gourde-Pontus Holmberg
Nick Paul-Dominic James-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Defense
J.J. Moser-Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D'Astous-Erik Cernak
Declan Carlile-Max Crozier
Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Special Teams
Penguins' power play: 28.6%, 3rd. Penguins penalty kill: 82.3%, 7th.
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Lightning power play: 20.6%, 14th. Lightning penalty kill: 83.3%, 6th.
Penguins Game Notes
The Penguins have had Tampa Bay's number, taking points in eight of their last 11 games (7-3-1). Going back further, the Penguins have points in nine of their last 13 games against the Lightning (8-4-1).
Defenseman Caleb Jones was assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) on a conditioning loan as part of his rehab from a lower-body injury.
Anthony Mantha has 21 points (8G-13A) in 29 career games against the Lightning and is a plus-10. Both his points (21) and plus/minus (+10) are career highs against any opponent.
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Per moneypuck.com , Letang and Kulak have allowed the third-fewest goals against at 5-on-5 among all defensive pairs in the league (min. 175 minutes played together).
The post Penguins Game 45, Rusty Razor: Lines, Goalies, and How to Watch vs. Lightning appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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