
The Pittsburgh Penguins will play their final game before the Christmas break on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto.
They'll be playing a Maple Leafs team that's got some serious bad vibes right now. They've lost three in a row and have only scored four goals in those games. They've also lost five of their last six and just fired assistant coach Marc Savard on Monday night.
Despite their struggles, they've still beaten the Penguins twice this season and have outscored them 11-5 in those games. They'll be going for the season sweep against them on Tuesday.
William Nylander leads the Leafs in scoring with 11 goals and 36 points in 31 games. John Tavares is right behind him with 14 goals and 31 points in 35 games, while Auston Matthews has 14 goals and 23 points in 30 games. Matthews is fifth on the team in scoring.
Those three players can still hurt teams anytime they're on the ice, so the Penguins will have to be on high alert when they hop over the bench.
The Penguins snapped their eight-game losing streak on Sunday when they beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout. The win also snapped a nine-game shootout losing streak dating back to Nov. 16, 2024.
Head coach Dan Muse will likely go with most of the same lineup from Sunday's game, except in net. If he stays true to his rotation, Stuart Skinner would get the start in Tuesday's game after Silovs started on Monday.
Here were Sunday's lines:
Forwards
Novak-Crosby-Rust
Mantha-Rakell-Brazeau
McGroarty-Kindel-Koivunen
Dewar-Hayes-Acciari
Defensive lines
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Kulak-Letang
Shea-St. Ivany
Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO Max. Fans can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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