Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (2-1-0, 4 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division) @ Anaheim Ducks (1-1-0, 2 points, 4th place Pacific Division)

How to Watch: Locally broadcast on KTTV, Victory+ and SN-PIT, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The West Coast road trip continues with a Thursday game against the Los Angeles Kings and Saturday game against the San Jose Kings. Then it’s back to Pittsburgh for a home game next Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Opponent Track: The Ducks fell to the Seattle Kraken in 2024 No. 3 pick Beckett Sennecke’s NHL debut last Thursday, then earned their first win of the season Saturday with a wild back-and-forth 7-6 overtime win. The victory featured a last-minute tying goal from Chris Kreider followed by an extra-time dagger by Leo Carlsson.

Season Series: The Penguins will meet up with the Ducks once more, this time in Pittsburgh, on Dec. 29. Last season the Pens claimed a 2-1 overtime win over the visiting Ducks in October before conceding a 5-1 road decision in January.

Hidden Stat: The Ducks lead the NHL with 40 shots per game through the first two contests of the season.

Getting to know the Ducks

Projected lines (from Monday’s practice)

Chris Kreider – Leo Carlsson – Alex Killorn

Cutter Gauthier – Mason McTavish – Beckett Sennecke

Frank Vatrano – Mikael Granlund – Troy Terry

Ross Johnston – Ryan Poehling – Nikita Nesterenko

Jackson LaCombe – Radko Gudas

Olen Zellweger – Jacob Trouba

Pavel Mintyukov – Drew Helleson

Goalies: Lukas Dostál – Petr Mrázek

Tonight marks the home opener for the Ducks, who spent the first two games of the season in San Jose and Seattle.

The Ducks have quite a few fun young players in this lineup, including a must-watch second line of Cutter Gauthier (21), Mason McTavish (22) and Beckett Sennecke (19). That trio combined for all three goals in Anaheim’s season-opening loss to Seattle and was once more all over the scoresheet in lass weekend’s win over the Sharks.Speaking of youth, Jackson LaCombe (24) is returning after a breakout season as the Ducks’ top defenseman that led to him inking the most lucrative extension in Ducks history.The Ducks are also playing under a new head coach, although one with considerably more experience than Dan Muse, in former Chicago Blackhawks bench boss Joel Quenneville.Per Andrew Knoll of the Orange County Register, McTavish “said the emphasis would be on tightening up defensively” against the Pens after Saturday’s 13-goal battle with the Sharks.Mrázek struggled on Saturday in a game that required Kreider’s late-regulation heroics go to overtime despite the Ducks outshooting the Sharks 44-23. Dostál, who broke out as his team’s go-to starter last season, could be back in net and looking for his first win of the season tonight.

Projected lines (from Monday’s practice)

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Evgeni Malkin – Justin Brazeau

Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Filip Hallander / Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang (?)

Caleb Jones / Harrison Brunicke

Goalies: Arturs Silovs, Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Connor Clifton, Mathew Dumba

IR: Kevin Hayes (upper body, week-to-week), Jack St. Ivany (week-to-week, lower body), Rutger McGroarty (indefinite, upper body), Joel Blomqvist (week-to-week, lower body)

The big question for today will be the status of Kris Letang, who is day-to-day with a lower body injury after an awkward collision late in Saturday’s loss to the New York Rangers. After missing Sunday’s practice and participating Monday, head coach Dan Muse said that Letang’s status for tonight’s game hadn’t yet been decided.Clifton or Dumba could get the call to step in if Letang is unavailable for tonight’s matchup. Both rotated with Brunicke behind Karlsson in the right-side defense depth chart during Monday’s practice, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review.Important update: