{"id":96650,"date":"2026-01-25T22:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/96650\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T22:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:39:11","slug":"lines-goalies-how-to-watch-vs-canucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/96650\/","title":{"rendered":"Lines, Goalies, & How to Watch vs. Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER, British Columbia \u2014 If there is a trap game on the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>\u2018 (25-14-11) schedule, this is it. The Penguins have won the first three games on the four-game western Canada road trip, and done so in convincing ways, but they\u2019ll face the wounded and quickly sinking to the bottom Vancouver Canucks (17-29-5) Sunday at the Rogers Arena. <\/p>\n

The puck drops just after 6 p.m. EST (3 p.m. PST), and Elizabeth Irving delivers the buy-one, get-one-free National Anthems. <\/p>\n

The Penguins hammered the Edmonton Oilers 6-2 Thursday at Rogers Place. From the opening drop, the Penguins played with intent and direction, catching the wandering Edmonton crew flat-footed. Even as Edmonton began to rally in the first and second periods, it was the Penguins who flexed their offensive game. <\/p>\n

The Penguins made history in the first period when they scored three goals in 37 seconds. It was the fastest three goals against Edmonton in NHL history, and the third fastest trio in Penguins history. <\/p>\n

Anthony Manta completed a three-on-two when he deflected Justin Brazeau\u2019s saucer pass past Edmonton goalie Tristan Jarry<\/a> on the Penguins\u2019 second shot of the game. Just 17 seconds later, Mantha scored a breakaway goal. <\/p>\n

And Sidney Crosby<\/a> scored what became the game-winner with an astounding chop-deflection from the slot that neatly fit in the top right corner. <\/p>\n

Evgeni Malkin<\/a> scored a breakaway goal when he stole the puck from Connor McDavid. Rickard Rakell and Egor Chinakhov also lit the lamp in the going-away win. <\/p>\n

Goalie Arturs Silovs<\/a> was very good, as well. Silovs stopped 30 of 32 shots in the win. Jarry did not have a great night, allowing goals on the second, third, and fourth shots he faced. Jarry stopped 17 of 23 in the loss. <\/p>\n

The Penguins have sole possession of second place in the Metro Division and are four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>, who are out of playoff seeds and in fourth place in the Metro. <\/p>\n

Vancouver has a few former Penguins on the roster. Defensemen Marcus Pettersson and P.O Joseph wear the blue and green, as do forwards Drew O\u2019Connor and Teddy Blueger. Max Sasson was a prospect camp attendee in 2022 while he attended Western Michigan, but did not sign a contract. <\/p>\n

Vancouver is currently the worst team in the NHL, and they\u2019re not close to next-to-last. With only 39 points this season, Vancouver is eight points behind the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets in the NHL cellar. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Penguins are not only on a short winning streak, but they are 10-2-2 since the holiday break. And the Canucks have the worst penalty kill in the league. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trap.<\/p>\n

Based on the Penguins\u2019 goalie rotation, Stuart Skinner is expected to start. However, coach Dan Muse could call an audible based on Silovs\u2019s performance against Edmonton, and because Silovs is a former Canucks goalie who was banished to the AHL last season. <\/p>\n

Muse will confirm the goalie two hours before game time, as well as update Kris Letang\u2019s status. Letang is expected to play Sunday after being a full participant in practice Saturday. <\/p>\n

UPDATE: Muse confirmed Letang will play and Skinner will be net. <\/p>\n

Vancouver recalled goalie Nikita Tolopilo, likely to serve as a backup while Thatcher Demko is again out with an injury. Kevin Lankinen is the likely Vancouver goalie. <\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/p>\n

TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

Radio: 105.9 The X<\/p>\n

Expected Penguins Lines <\/p>\n

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust<\/p>\n

Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin<\/p>\n

Anthony Mantha-Ben Kindel-Justin Brazeau<\/p>\n

Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson<\/p>\n

Brett Kulak-Kris Letang<\/p>\n

Ryan Shea-Jack St. Ivany<\/p>\n

Goalie: Stuart Skinner, confirmed<\/p>\n

Expected Canucks Lines<\/p>\n

Aatu Raty-Elias Pettersson-Jake DeBrusk <\/p>\n

Drew O\u2019Connor-Filip Chytil-Brock Boeser <\/p>\n

Liam Ohgren-Teddy Blueger-Conor Garland <\/p>\n

Nils Hoglander-Max Sasson-Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

Elias Pettersson-Filip Hronek<\/p>\n

Zeev Buium-Tyler Myers<\/p>\n

Marcus Pettersson-Tom Willander<\/p>\n

Goalie: Kevin Lankinen, confirmed<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/p>\n

Penguins\u2019 power play: 27.4%, 4th. Penguins penalty kill: 83.4%, 6th.<\/p>\n

Canucks power play: 19.0%, 20th.\u00a0Canucks penalty kill: 70.6%, 32nd<\/p>\n

Penguins Game Notes<\/p>\n

The Penguins are 12-5-2 overall in their last 18 games versus the Canucks, but the Penguins and Vancouver have traded wins in each of their last eight games at Rogers Arena, dating back to March 11, 2017 (Penguins are 4-4-0).<\/p>\n

The Penguins are looking to be perfect on the Western Canada trip (CGY-EDM-VAN) for the first time since the 2019-20 season (3-0-0).<\/p>\n

Tommy Novak has six points (1-5-6) over his last five games.<\/p>\n

The Penguins have killed off 23 of their last 24 penalties over the past seven games (95.8%). <\/p>\n

Rickard Rakell is on a five-game point streak (3-2-5). The team is 14-2-2 when he records a point this season.<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby is three goals shy of reaching the 30-goal mark for the 14th time, and the fifth-consecutive season. Only six players in NHL history have more 30-goal seasons, and only Alex Ovechkin has more among active players (19).<\/p>\n

Stuart Skinner has been red hot since the Christmas Break, winning six of his seven starts (6-1-0). During this stretch, he has only allowed one goal in five of the seven games. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: canucks game<\/a> canucks lines<\/a> how to watch penguins game<\/a> Penguins game<\/a> Penguins lines<\/a> Penguins starting goalie<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized: Penguins Pregame<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER, British Columbia \u2014 If there is a trap game on the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2018 (25-14-11) schedule, this is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[47456,47457,6616,6617,5979,18595,73,75,74,1067],"class_list":["post-96650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-canucks-game","tag-canucks-lines","tag-how-to-watch-penguins-game","tag-penguins-game","tag-penguins-lines","tag-penguins-starting-goalie","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}