Pittsburgh Penguins Vs Minnesota Wild Preseason Game Day And Preview

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the road for their fifth preseason game as they visit the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota to take on the Wild tonight at 8 p.m.

The Black and Gold are 2-2 in exhibition action while Minnesota would like to get to .500 as they are 1-2 in the preseason.

While many thought the Captain would make his preseason debut tonight, Sidney Crosby‘s name was scratched off the lineup as of 11:34 a.m. on the Penguins web site. He traveled to Nova Scotia over the weekend to be with his family after his grandmother’s death.

Meanwhile, Pascal Dupuis has been given the go ahead to play this evening for the first time since the 6-foot-1, 205-pound right wing sustained a knee injury back on Dec 23rd.

Tonight could be the night we get a glimpse at who might be Marc-Andre Fleury‘s back up this season between the pipes. Head coach Mike Johnston plans to have Jeff Zatkoff and Thomas Greiss split the playing time against Minnesota. Greiss, according to Johnston, was chosen to start via a coin flip.

Johnston also said today that Olli Maatta has not been cleared to play yet, but he will practice with the squad in Detroit on Tuesday while Evgeni Malkin still has not taken the ice for work outs.

Here is rest of the lineup for the Pens: forwards – Chris Kunitz, Blake Comeau, Steve Downie, Andrew Ebbett, Craig Adams, Zach Sill, Kasperi Kapanen, Oskar Sundqvist, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Spaling, Daniel Carcillo and Dupuis; defensemen – Scott Harrington, Paul Martin, Brian Dumoulin, Christian Ehrhoff, Taylor Chorney, and Kris Letang; goaltenders – Greiss and Zatkoff.

More from Pittsburgh Penguins

• Pittsburgh Penguins: A Look Back at 2019
• Penguins Will Continue to Persevere Despite Injuries
• Penguins: Alex Galchenyuk May Finally Start Meeting Expectations
• Penguins’ Three Keys to Help End Islanders’ Point Streak
• Penguins: Without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin Will Be an MVP Candidate

According to Mike Doyle at wild.nhl.com, Minnesota is going to go with Darcy Keumper between the pipes for the entire contest.

This evening will also mark the home debut of left wing Thomas Vanek, who was signed as a free agent by the Wild on July 1st.

Here is rest of the lineup for the Wild: forwards – Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville, Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle, Matt Cooke, Kyle Brodziak, Jordan Schroeder, Michael Keranen, Stephane Veilleux, Cody Almond, Zack Phillips and Vanek; defensemen – Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella, Christian Folin, Stu Bickel, Matt Dumba; goaltenders – Ilya Bryzgalov and Keumper.

Both tonight’s contest and Wednesday’s from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, when the Pens take on the Red Wings for their final exhibition game, will be broadcast by ROOT Sports Pittsburgh. Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey will be behind the microphones.

You will also be able ot listen to the games on the Penguins’ flagship radio station, 105.9 FM – The X with Mike Lange and Phil Bourque.

From The Clipboard: The Pens assigned defenseman Philip Samuelsson and forward Pierre-Luc Leblond to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League today. Both players have to clear waivers by Tuesday at noon before they can report to WBS.

The Black and Gold’s training camp roster has 32 players with a breakdown of 18 forwards, 11 defensemen, and three goaltenders. The roster must be at 23 before the NHL season opens on Thursday, Oct 9.