The Penguins begin a five-game road trip. This is the first game of a back-to-back; they are at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. Pittsburgh has won its past two games and is 5-1-0 in its past six.
Players to watch
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray (7-0-1) is looking for his eighth straight win after an overtime loss on opening night. His last loss in regulation was 4-1 to the Nashville Predators in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 5. Wild forward Jason Zucker has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
They said it
"Every night you expect a team's best. The League is so tight, and I think knowing that we need to make sure mentally we're ready. We've had some tough losses on back-to-back nights where maybe our game wasn't quite there and we found out pretty quickly that you can't have nights like that and expect to get points. I think we just have to be ready every night." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby "It's always a great test. If it doesn't get your blood boiling a bit when you're playing the Stanley Cup champions and the best player in the world [Sidney Crosby], we're in the wrong business. It's an exciting thought to be able to test them here, but if we're not ready it's a scary team. They can feed you your lunch pretty quick." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
Niederreiter has been practicing with the Wild this week and is expected to return to the lineup against the Jets on Tuesday.
Stat pack
Kessel has nine points (three goals, six assists) in the past seven games. Malkin has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past five games. … Staal has seven points (four goals, three assists) in the past seven games. Spurgeon has four points (one goal, three assists) in the past three games.
