Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Minnesota Wild 3/9/2025
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Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar are set to make their Penguins debuts, while Marc-Andre Fleury could be making his final start against his former team.
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (24-31-10, 58 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division) @ Minnesota Wild (36-23-4, 76 points, 4th place Central Division)
When: 3:30 p.m. ET
How to Watch: SN-PIT and TVAS for local markets, national on TNT, truTV and MAX
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins return to Pittsburgh after this one for a weeklong homestand at PPG Paints Arena. Next up is the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, followed by meetings with the St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Opponent Track: The Wild, previously the third team in the Central, slipped down to a Wild Card spot after losing four of their last six games. Most recently, Minnesota dropped a 3-1 decision to the Canucks in Vancouver after former Penguin Teddy Blueger put the dagger into the empty net.
Season Series: The Penguins led early, but allowed four unanswered Wild goals in a 5-3 loss at home on Oct. 29.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins hold 30 total draft picks in the next three drafts, including an NHL-high 18 picks in the first three rounds, per Pens PR and team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.
Projected lines (from Friday’s game)
FORWARDS
Marcus Johansson – Frederick Gaudreau – Mats Zuccarello
Gustav Nyquist – Ryan Hartman – Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Marco Rossi – Vinnie Hinostroza
Yakov Trenin – Devin Shore – Justin Brazeau
DEFENSEMEN
Jacob Middleton / Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm / Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill / Zach Bogosian
Goalies: Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratches: Brendan Gaunce, David Jircek, Jonas Brodin (injured)
IR: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek
(via hockeydb)
“It’s always still weird when I play against them. Obviously I like to win against them to get a little bit of bragging rights, but they’ve been such great teammates and good friends and so it’s fun to cross paths.”
“You see guys every day for 12-14 years and then you don’t see them anymore pretty much, so it’s hard. It’s hard when that happens, right? But still, I always keep such a good memory and when we see each other, it feels like no time has passed, so it’s like back to our time there together.” —Fleury on Thursday about his final game against the Penguins, per Woodley
It was a quiet trade deadline for the Wild.
After claiming Vinnie Hinostroza off waivers last month, the Wild added Gustav Nyquist and Justin Brazeau at the deadline.
The team meanwhile parted ways with Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko and two 2026 picks draft picks.
Given that Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek are on the long-term injured reserve, the Wild had more than $9 million in LTIR space to make a move at the deadline.
But general manager Bill Guerin noted at the deadline that the Wild are at a “different stage” than the Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche.
He also indicated the Wild are hoping to use the cap space on Kaprizov if the winger is able to return before the end of the regular season.
Here are some of Guerin’s comments about the Wild’s deadline moves, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo:
“Yeah, you want to be involved, but you know what? We’re just at a different stage than those teams. We’ll have our day, but it was the same thing this summer when you’re watching other teams load up. For some reason we still have to play the games. If we’re going by that, we might as well just pack our s— and go home. But I think we’ll show up and play the games and see how it checks out.”
“Did you see the prices on guys? I’m not here — and I’m not being a wiseass — I’m not here to make your trade deadline better. I’m running a business. I’m running a team. We have assets. Our time will come. This is not so you guys can write great stuff on trade deadline day and have an exciting day. We’ve had a plan going for four years. And I’m not going to screw that up just being shortsighted. That’s where I am.”
Projected lines (from Saturday’s practice)
FORWARDS
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Kevin Hayes – Evgeni Malkin – Emil Bemstrom
Connor Dewar – Tommy Novak – Philip Tomasino
Boko Imama – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson
Vladislav Kolyachonok / Connor Timmins / Ryan Graves
Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry
Potential Scratches: Connor Timmins or Ryan Graves (?), Danton Heinen (?)
Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper-body injury)
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Penguins at Wild projected lineups
3:30 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, MAX, truTV, TNT, TVAS
Penguins projected lineup
Rickard Rakell — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Tommy Novak — Evgeni Malkin — Philip Tomasino
Danton Heinen — Kevin Hayes — Emil Bemstrom
Bokondji Imama — Noel Acciari — Blake Lizotte
Ryan Shea — Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk — Erik Karlsson
Vladislav Kolyachonok – Ryan Graves
Alex Nedeljkovic
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: None
Injured: P.O Joseph (upper body)
Wild projected lineup
Gustav Nyquist — Ryan Hartman — Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson — Frederick Gaudreau — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno — Marco Rossi — Vinnie Hinostroza
Yakov Trenin — Devin Shore — Justin Brazeau
Jake Middleton — Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm — Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill — Zach Bogosian
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: David Jiricek, Brendan Gaunce
Injured: Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Jonas Brodin (lower body)
Status report
The Penguins reassigned defenseman Jack St. Ivany to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Saturday. … Fleury is expected to start against the Penguins for the final time in his NHL career; he was selected by Pittsburgh with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft and won the Stanley Cup three times with the Penguins in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
