Penguins vs Jets: Prediction, Team News and Winnipeg’s Back-to-Back

Penguins vs Jets is the back half of a Winnipeg back-to-back, and the third game in four nights for a team that is already without the best goaltender in its history.

Pittsburgh hosts Montréal on Saturday and has Sunday off. The Penguins opened the season by winning 7-0 in Philadelphia.

How to watch

Broadcast listings change and regional blackouts can apply, so check your provider close to puck drop. Our how to watch the NHL in Canada page has the full national picture.

Penguins vs Jets odds

The Canadian books had not posted a price for this game when we checked on 1 October. We will add the board once it lands. Live prices across the league are on our NHL odds page.

Winnipeg plays three games in four nights

The Jets play their home opener against Boston on Friday, fly to Detroit for a 1:00pm Sunday matinee, then travel overnight to Pittsburgh for Monday night. Three games in four nights, two time zones, and the second half of a back-to-back at the end of it.

And they are doing it without Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets suspended him on 17 September for failing to report to training camp after his trade request, and there’s no date for his return. The background is on our Hellebuyck trade request page.

That leaves Stuart Skinner, who played 27 games for Pittsburgh last season. He started the year in Edmonton, went 11-8-4 there at a 2.83 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage, then went 12-9-5 for the Penguins at 2.99 and .885. Fifty games across two clubs, and now a third.

So he knows this building and this room. On the second night of a back-to-back, Winnipeg may not have the option of resting him either.

How they compare

Last season’s rates, which travel better from one year to the next than a record does.

Pittsburgh opened with a 7-0 win, and Crosby did not score

Pittsburgh went to Philadelphia on 30 September and won 7-0, and the goals came from almost everywhere except the names on the banner.

Nick Robertson scored twice. Ville Koivunen, Hendrix Lapierre, Filip Hallander and Egor Chinakhov got the others. Evgeni Malkin scored the only one you would have predicted. Hallander, Koivunen and the goaltender took the three stars.

Arturs Silovs stopped all 19 shots. Pittsburgh’s crease is his and Sergei Murashov’s now, and Silovs has a shutout in his first start of the year.

The veterans are still there. Sidney Crosby, now 39, put up 74 points in 68 games last season. Malkin, 40, managed 61 in 56. Erik Karlsson added 66 from the blue line, and Kris Letang, 39, played 74 games.

Pittsburgh has six players on the injury list

Bryan Rust is listed for this game date. Twenty-nine goals and 65 points last season, third on the team behind Crosby and Erik Karlsson, and his return would change the top six. Check the morning skate. Ben Kindel, a 19-year-old who scored 35 points as a rookie, is on injured reserve, Justin Brazeau is week to week and Blake Lizotte is day to day.

Winnipeg’s list has four names, and only Hellebuyck’s changes the game. Availability across the league is on our NHL injury report.

There is still a 103-point centre in Winnipeg

Mark Scheifele put up 103 points last season, 36 goals and 67 assists, on a team that finished 26th and conceded 29 more than it scored. That is one of the better individual seasons anyone had on a bad club.

Josh Morrissey added 55 from defence. Cole Perfetti signed a five-year contract in July. Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi and Nino Niederreiter give the forward group more than the table suggests.

The problem is that Winnipeg’s goaltending was the thing holding the rest up, and it is the thing they have lost.

What happened last season

Two meetings, one each, and both went to the home team.

Winnipeg took three of the four points available, which flatters the Jets slightly given Pittsburgh finished 16 points higher. The March game needed a shootout.

Players to watch

Mark Scheifele. A hundred and three points. If Winnipeg is to steal one on the second night of a back-to-back, it runs through him.

Sidney Crosby. Seventy-four points last season, and only an assist in the 7-0 opener while the depth lines did the scoring.

Arturs Silovs. A nineteen-save shutout to open the season and the crease to himself.

Stuart Skinner. Facing the club he played 27 games for last season, on the second night of a back-to-back, in a building where tired teams get beaten.

Score prediction

Winnipeg Jets 2-5 Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh has had a day off, is scoring through four lines and is at home. Winnipeg are on the second night, two time zones from where they started the weekend, without their starter.

Penguins vs Jets prediction

Almost everything points one way. Pittsburgh finished 16 points higher, opened with a seven-goal shutout, had Sunday off and is at home.

Winnipeg arrives on the second half of a back-to-back, after a Sunday afternoon game in Detroit, without Hellebuyck and with a goaltender whose save percentage has dropped in each of the last three seasons, from .914 in 2022-23 to .888 last year.

The counterweight is thin. Pittsburgh may be without its third-highest scorer and is missing at least two more forwards, and Winnipeg won 5-2 the last time these teams met in Winnipeg.

Our lean: Pittsburgh, and the over if the total sits at 6 or lower. Both meetings last season cleared six goals and Pittsburgh have scored seven already. We will firm the Penguins vs Jets call up when the board posts.

Where these two sit against the other 30 is on our NHL power rankings.

19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). Odds are approximate at the time of writing and change constantly. Availability varies by province. Please play responsibly. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600 for Ontario residents; see your province’s helpline for resources elsewhere.