Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (32-18-15, 79 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ Utah Mammoth (34-26-6, 74 points, 4th place Central Division)
When: 9 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Utah16, streaming on ESPN+
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Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens’ road trip continues with two more tough matchups against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night and the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday evening.
Opponent Track: The Mammoth are still sitting in the first Wild Card spot in the West with a six-point advantage over the San Jose Sharks, but they’re heading into Saturday’s matchup on a three-game losing streak after two overtime losses to the Chicago Blackhawks on either side of a 5-0 shutout by the Minnesota Wild.
Season Series: The Pens gave up four straight goals in six-minute span of the third period during their Dec. 14 matchup against the Mammoth, during which Justin Brazeau forced overtime before Dylan Guenther scored 42 seconds in to win it for Utah.
Hidden Stat: Ben Kindel recorded the only three-point outing of his NHL career so far against the Mammoth back, racking up a goal and two assists in that overtime loss back in December.
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Getting to know the Mammoth
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Clayton Keller – Nick Schmaltz – Lawson Crouse
JJ Peterka – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
Jack McBain – Barrett Hayton – Michael Carcone
Alex Kerfoot – Kevin Stenlund – Kailer Yamamoto
DEFENSEMEN
Mikhail Sergachev / Mackenzie Weegar
Nate Schmidt / John Marino
Ian Cole / Sean Durzi
Goalies: Karel Vejmelka, Vitek Vanecek
Potential scratches: Brandon Tanev, Liam O’Brien, Maksymilian Szuber, Nick Desimone
Injured Reserve: None
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The Mammoth locked in their top center last week by signing Nick Schmaltz to an eight-year, $64 million extension ahead of his pending free agency.
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Former Penguin Brandon Tanev signed a three-year, $2.5 million AAV deal with Utah this offseason, but he has already fallen completely out of the Mammoth lineup. He hasn’t played since Feb. 25, and he had been held without a goal and registered just two assists and a minus-14 rating through his first 45 games of the season.
Season stats
via hockeydb
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Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka has taken on the largest workload in the NHL so far this season. He went into Friday having appeared in an NHL-high 51 games while playing more than 3,009 minutes, more than 130 more than the next most-played goaltender.
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He’s also tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the most wins this season (30), although he’s had a rough stretch since returning from the Olympic break, during which he’s gone 3-3-1 with a .871 save percentage and 3.4 goals against average. He’s been in net for the entirety of Utah’s recent three-game losing streak, and he got lost a rebound on the Connor Bedard game-winner that sealed the Mammoth’s overtime loss on Thursday.
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The Mammoth are hoping to make the playoffs for the first time after missing out on the postseason during the franchise’s inaugural 2024-25 season. They’re being helped in that pursuit by the complete collapse of the bottom of the Western Conference, where every other team below the Mammoth (74 points) has 68 points or fewer.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Egor Chinakhov – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Ville Koivunen
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Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Ilya Solovyov / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner
Potential Scratches: Sam Girard (injured), Evgeni Malkin (suspended), Ryan Graves, Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau (injured, week to week)
IR: Sidney Crosby, Filip Hallander, Jack St. Ivany
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This marks the final game of Evgeni Malkin’s suspension before he is eligible to return during Monday’s matchup against the Avs.
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The Los Angeles Kings helped the Penguins out by defeating the New York Islanders in regulation on Friday night. The Pens, now tied in points with the Isles with a game in hand, could gain some breathing room in the top of the Metro with a win tonight. Here’s a look at the standings after Friday night, courtesy of NHL.com.
