Pittsburgh looks ahead to its fourth game of the season against the Montreal Canadiens
As the Pittsburgh Penguins prepare for the final leg of an early-season three-game road trip, it appears there will be a few changes to the starting lineup Monday night.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry will make his second start of the season after rookie Joel Blomqvist started the last two games, and a few faces appear to be rotating in and out of the press box.
Forward Jesse Puljujarvi and defenseman Ryan Shea - both healthy scratches against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night - appear primed to start, while forward Rutger McGroarty and defenseman Jack St. Ivany will likely rotate out of the lineup.
McGroarty and St. Ivany have appeared in all three games for the Penguins up to this point, and due to Rust's return, a forward rotation of sorts should be somewhat expected for the time being. The Penguins want to get McGroarty as much playing time as possible, but it's also evident that they want to get the 20-year-old as much playing time as possible.
Whether this means he gets the playing time at the NHL level or in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, don't expect McGroarty to be a healthy scratch for too long.
As far as the goaltending is concerned, it goes without saying that this is a huge game for Jarry. Blomqvist had two strong outings in a row, and Alex Nedeljkovic has been skating with the team and is likely not too far off from a return.
Jarry faced the Rangers in the season opener and surrendered six goals. Suffice to say that if Jarry turns in another unremarkable performance, it may make the goaltending situation in the coming weeks a bit interesting, as the Penguins want to put as many points as possible on the board in the earlygoing.
Luckily for Jarry, he has had some success against the Canadiens. He is 6-1-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in nine games against Montreal.
As a team, the Penguins are 7-2-2 in their last 11 games against the Canadiens, including a clean sweep of the team last season (3-0 record). But Montreal is off to a pretty decent start - going 2-1 in their first three games - and they have talented, dynamic young players in forwards Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield as well as in defensemen Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson. They will all be players to watch.
Monday's game marks the fourth game in six days for the Penguins, who will then come home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. They are in the midst of a stretch to start the season in which they play 12 games in 18 days.
BONUS SIDE NOTE: Former Penguin and three-time Stanley Cup Champion Phil Kessel, along with his fellow members of the World Poker Tour (WPT), will be in attendance at tonight's game.
We talked about this yesterday, but Kessel inked a deal as a brand ambassador for the WPT, and they are holding an event in Montreal this week.
So keep an eye out for the Penguins' cult hero if you happen to be attending the game Monday night.