The Pittsburgh Penguins are gearing up to take the ice on Saturday and will be without one of their key skaters against the Nashville Predators.
Per Pens Inside Scoop, “Dan Muse said that Evgeni Malkin (illness) will not play tonight, so Avery Hayes is in. And Arturs Silovs will start in goal against Nashville.”
The former is bad news for the Penguins, who watched Malkin score a goal and provide an assist in Thursday night’s win over the Florida Panthers.
Without Malkin in the lineup, Nick Robertson is projected to skate in the top six, per NHL.com. Robertson is tied with Malkin for the team lead with six goals, and he had a highlight-reel moment in Thursday’s win.
Robertson makes for a decent insurance policy with Malkin shelved, even if it further shuffles the projected lines for Saturday evening’s matchup.
Pittsburgh Penguins Projected Lines And Pairings vs. Predators
Once again, Tommy Novak, Sidney Crosby, and Rickard Rakell are the projected first liners. Novak was also projected to take over the injured Bryan Rust’s spot on Thursday. He has eight points and three goals in 11 games.
Ville Koivunen and Hendrix Lapierre are slated to join Robertson on the second line, while Andrei Kuzmenko, Blake Lizotte, and Rutger McGroarty are the projected third line. McGroarty made his season debut on Thursday.
Elmer Soderblom, Connor Dewar, and Avery Hayes are slated to be on the fourth line. Dewar is coming off a solid performance with two points in Thursday’s win.
Spencer Stastney and Erik Karlsson are once again the projected first pairing. Stastney had an assist and a plus-3 vs. Florida. Declan Carlile and Kaedan Korczak look like they will line up behind Karlsson and Stastney, while Ilya Solovyov and Kris Letang are the slated third pairing.
Chase Pietila looks like the healthy scratch, while Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Samuel Girard, Malkin, Rust, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Ryan Graves, and Justin Brazeau are out with injuries/illnesses.
Arturs Silovs Looking To Build On Thursday’s Performance
Silovs needed a big performance, and he got one on Thursday. He recorded his second shutout of the season after stopping 26 shots on goal, and he will look for an encore performance. Silovs is now 4-3-0, with an .885 save percentage, a 3.01 GAA, and a .429 quality starts percentage.
He will face a Predators team that is 27th in the league with 23 goals through nine games. Nashville is also coming off a shutout loss to the Boston Bruins.
Daily Faceoff and Max Herz confirmed that Juuse Saros will start for the Predators. Saros has continually held down the fort in Nashville, and that is no different in 2026-27. Saros has a 2.82 GAA, a .907 save percentage, and a 3-2-2 record. He will always give the Predators a chance as long as he is in the net.
For the Penguins, this means putting up a repeat effort despite losing Evgeni Malkin for this one. If they come through, then they could be on track to string together a few wins. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. EDT.
Pittsburgh Penguins Face Another Key Absence Against Predators