On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins put forth one of their best efforts of the season in a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers, one of the top teams in the league. And they followed that up with one of their worst performances of the season in a big tilt with the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
The Penguins have found a way to respond well to games like Saturday’s, and they will have the chance to do so in the second half of their ninth back-to-back this season on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Many players echoed similar sentiments after Saturday’s loss, saying that after losses like their 5-0 dud against the Senators, it’s best to get right back at it the very next day.
“We know it wasn’t our night, it wasn’t going to go our way, probably – but we got another important game tomorrow,” Erik Karlsson said after Saturday’s loss. “We just got to make sure that none of this leaks into tomorrow. Luckily for us, we can go home, sleep and get right back at it.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan said that forward Michael Bunting was involved in a car accident outside of PPG Paints Arena, and although everyone involved is okay, Bunting will not play on Sunday.
On the other end of things, forward Philip Tomasino – injured during Pittsburgh’s 3-2 loss against Florida on January 3 – will slot back in and was activated from injured reserve. In a corresponding move, forward Evgeni Malkin was placed on IR.
Tristan Jarry will get the start in goal. Here is the full lineup:
Tampa Bay is 4-5-1 in its last 10 games and is coming off of an overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, meaning they are also on the second leg of a back-to-back. The Penguins lost to the Lightning in overtime earlier in the season, and they are 6-2 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
