The Pittsburgh Penguins face the Buffalo Sabres with both teams off to strong starts to the season. The Penguins have a 4-5-1 record but are hoping to snap out of a five-game losing streak. The Sabres meanwhile have a 6-3 record and with back-to-back wins, have leaped into second place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to improve in the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Penguins are off to a strong start with their offense stepping up and scoring 3.56 goals per game. Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Jake Guentzel have scored 13 goals and 14 assists to lead arguably the best top line in the league but the rest of the offense has also looked great. Evgeni Malkin, Danton Heinen, and Jeff Carter have combined for 10 goals and 12 assists while Kasperi Kapanen, Rickard Rakell, and Jason Zucker have added seven goals and 11 assists to the backend of the forward unit, making the Penguins offense tough to stop.
The offense has looked great but the defense has struggled, allowing 3.22 goals per game with 24 goals allowed in the last five games. Jan Rutta, Jeff Petry, and Marcus Pettersson have combined for 1.6 defensive point shares and 47 blocked shots to lead the top two pairings but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offens ive zone and find open shots on the net. With the team playing the second game of a back-to-back, the Penguins will turn to backup goaltender Casey DeSmith can build off a promising start to the season as he has a .913 save percentage and a 2.97 goals-against average on 104 shots.