Predicted Penguins lineup tonight: Pittsburgh's projected lineup for game against Carolina Hurricanes | Oct 18, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. Ahead of the Penguins' sixth game, here is what their projected lineup might look like.

Predicted Penguins lineup

Forwards

• Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
• Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
• Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Jesse Puljujarvi
• Kevin Hayes - Cody Glass - Noel Acciari

The Penguins are 3-2 and are coming off a 6-5 OT win over Buffalo in a game Pittsburgh trailed 3-1 and 5-4 with less than a minute to go and won it in OT.

In the win, Evgeni Malkin became the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals. He's also the fourth active player to hit the milestone, joining Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos.

“First, those are great names. Second, it’s like, not bad myself,” Malkin said, via NHL.com. “I’m trying to do my best. When you play against Ovechkin, you’re trying to be better. Same, like, we play with Sid, same team. But I’m trying to do my best. He’s probably looking to me. I push to him. He push to me. We try to help each other. ... Finally, I score. Now, I’m relaxed. Not think too much. Sleep better. Just play hockey.”

Defenseman

• Matt Grzelcyk - Kris Letang
• Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
• Ryan Graves - Jack St. Ivany

The Penguins have been trying to figure out its defensive pairing, especially on the third-pairing.

Goalies

• Joel Blomqvist
• Tristan Jarry

Joel Blomqvist is projected to start as Tristan Jarry has struggled this season.

Goaltending has been an issue for the Penguins as Jarry has a 5.47 goals-against average and a .836 save percentage. Despite Jarry likely not starting on Friday, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan still has confidence in his goalie.

“We all believe in Tristan,” Sullivan said, via NHL.com. “He’s a quality NHL goaltender. We think there’s another level to his game. The expectations are high, so we’re going to push him to be at his very best. I think, when you look at how the season ended down the stretch last year, I think Jars would’ve liked to have had the net a little more than he did. I’m sure that’s motivated him in the offseason."

“Jars is a proud guy. He’s a competitive guy. He’s a quality goalie. I think he has a certain mindset that he wants to come in and he wants to prove that he’s the quality goalie that we all expect him to be. And that will play itself out in due time.”

Penguins October NHL schedule

Pittsburgh's remaining schedule for October is as follows:

• vs Carolina, Oct. 18
• @ Winnipeg, Oct. 20
• @ Calgary, Oct. 22
• @ Edmonton, Oct. 25
• @ Vancouver, Oct. 26
• vs Minnesota, Oct. 29
• vs Anaheim, Oct. 31