Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators 12/18/25

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (14-9-9, 37 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division) @ Ottawa Senators (15-13-4, 34 points, 7th place Atlantic Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. eastern

How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh, TSN5 and RDS2 in Canada, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens stay on the road going to Montreal on Saturday night. Then the Canadiens will follow the Pens back to Pittsburgh for a game on Sunday. Then there’s one more game (@TOR next Tuesday) prior to the December 24-27 holiday break.

Opponent Track: Been an up and down year so far for the Senators, they just completed a three-game road trip going 2-1-0, including a 3-2 OT victory in Winnipeg on Monday in their last game. Prior to that, Ottawa lost three homes games in a row earlier in December.

Season Series: This is the first OTT/PIT game of the season, round two isn’t until February 2nd in Pittsburgh. The Pens head back to Ottawa on March 26th to finish the season series out.

Getting to know the Senators

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stutzle – Fabian Zetterlund

David Perron – Dylan Cozens – Drake Batherson

Michael Amadio – Ridley Greig – Claude Giroux

Kurtis MacDermid – Stephen Halliday – Nick Cousins

DEFENSEMEN

Jake Sanderson / Artem Zub

Tyler Kleven / Jordan Spence

Nikolas Matinpalo / Nick Jensen

Goalies: Linus Ullmark and Leevi Merilainen

Potential scratches: Olle Lycksell, Dennis Gilbert

Injured Reserve: Shane Pinto, Lars Eller, Thomas Chabot

• Chabot skated in practice yesterday on an extra pair, he’s already been announced as out for tonight but he should be back for the Sens in the near future. The Pens won’t mind him not being quite ready to return tonight, the blueliner has 14 career points (3G+11A) in 16 games against Pittsburgh.
• Perron and Giroux are by far the oldest players on the team, set in positions to help the youngsters along.
• Ullmark left yesterday’s skate early but coach Travis Green reported “no concerns” about the goalie’s status moving forward. Ullmark has played four out of the last five games and has won his last two starts, though he has allowed 11 total goals in his last four games.

Season stats
via hockeydb

• Stutzle is always the straw to stir the drink for the Sens, he’s hot with four goals over the last five games.
• Cozens is starting to pick up the points too, six assists in the last five games makes up almost half of his season total.
• Is it a kinder, gentler Brady Tkachuk? Probably not, but only 8 PIMs in 12 games since his return stands out. Tkachuk has notched 117-134 PIMs in each of the last four seasons. For a guy who has averaged almost 33 goals over the past four seasons, his touch in that department is down a notch too as he makes his mid-season return from injury but he’s been able to produce points to normal levels via racking up the assists.

Key matchup: Pittsburgh shooters vs. Ottawa goalies

The Penguins need to get better at scoring goals at 5v5. Going up against Ottawa could be a gift — if they can get through a stingy defense that ranks among the league best in not allowing shot attempts or expected goals. The downside and weakness of Ottawa has been in net, where goaltending has been leaky so far this season. The penalty kill, where it’s often said the goalie is the most important PK’er, also is among league worst and could be an area to pick up the slack for 5v5 struggles tonight.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines 

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau

Rutger McGroarty – Ben Kindel – Kevin Hayes

Connor Dewar – Danton Heinen – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Shea / Kris Letang

Brett Kulak / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies:  Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Ville Koivunen, Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton

IR: Blake Lizotte, Evgeni Malkin, Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones

• There was a slight twist in lines at practice yesterday in the mid-line wings with Mantha and Hayes trading places. Koivunen rotated in with that line.
• Malkin and Lizotte skated yesterday prior to practice, but coach Dan Muse said there is no change of status for either. He also said yesterday wasn’t the first time they had been on the ice, which could be a positive signal that the recoveries are on track.
• It’ll be interesting to see what the Pens do in net tonight. Skinner had to go through the whirlwind of not being on the ice from Thursday night all the way until the game day skater yesterday morning, then all the emotions of playing his newly former Oiler teammates. Does he get the nod to go back in there? Would it be a gain to go back to Silovs? There may not be a right or wrong answer, though it’ll be notable which gets selected.

Win one for dear old Dad

The Pens will have extra help on this road trip where fathers and mentors are joining up to go to Ottawa and Montreal.