The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to snap a three-game losing streak in a Thanksgiving Eve matchup against the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
And they might have a little bit more help.
Forward Blake Lizotte, who has been out since Nov. 13 with a concussion, was activated from injured reserve Wednesday afternoon. The concussion was his second this season, and both occurred after getting hit with pucks in the face from friendly fire.
In addition, forward Philip Tomasino – who was acquired from the Nashville Predators on Monday for a 2027 fourth-round pick – will make his Penguins’ debut. Tomasino has been skating on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Beauvillier in practice, and he will occupy that same spot Wednesday.
Head coach Mike Sullivan said that they do their best to ease new players into the system and the type of game that they want to play but that there isn’t as much difference between team systems as some may think. Therefore, they want to walk the line of giving Tomasino room to act on instinct while slowly introducing more systemic detail into his game.
“Our approach has always been that when we get a player, and we’re trying to assimilate him into the group, we don’t want to give him too much too soon because we don’t want to turn them into robots,” Sullivan said. “We don’t want them out there where their thought process gets in the way of their instincts. And it’s such an instinctive game. So, we’ll give him a basic foundation of how we’re trying to play in all three zones on both sides of the puck, and then we’ll add layers of detail as we go so that we don’t overwhelm him with information.”
In addition to Lizotte and Tomasino, goaltender Tristan Jarry will get the start in goal, as he is coming off of his two best performances of the season. Defensemen Ryan Graves and Owen Pickering (illness) are out, and Ryan Shea and Jack St. Ivany are in.
Here is the full lineup that the Penguins will ice against Vancouver:
The Canucks are 11-6-3 and sit third in the Pacific Division. They are riding two straight wins coming into Pittsburgh, and defenseman Quinn Hughes has 12 points in 11 games this month while forward Elias Pettersson has 10 points in his last eight.
The Penguins are well-aware of the threat that the team poses, even without star center J.T. Miller, who took an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons.
“They’re fierce competitors,” Sullivan said. “They play the game with a sense of purpose, they’re well-prepared, and they’re well-coached. (Rick Tocchet) is a good coach. ‘Tocch’ does a great job a far as giving them sufficient structure, but also, I think he shares a similar philosophy that we have here in the sense that he believes in giving his top players some latitude and allowing them to act on their instincts. And there’s always that fine line between structure and taking the player and the team’s sticks out of their hands if you give them too much.”
Pittsburgh has lost its past three games against Tampa Bay, Winnipeg, and Utah, and looks to get back on track. Captain Sidney Crosby has 12 goals and 24 points in 24 games against the Canucks in his career.
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