Projected Lineups for Penguins vs Blackhawks- 12/28/25

The Pittsburgh Penguins travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks at the United Center. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

PENGUINS (15-12-9) at BLACKHAWKS (14-17-6)

7 p.m. ET; CHSN, SN-PIT, SNP, SNW, SNE, TVAS

Penguins projected lineup

Rickard Rakell — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Thomas Novak — Justin Brazeau
Ville Koivunen — Ben Kindel — Rutger McGroarty
Connor Dewar — Blake Lizotte — Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon — Erik Karlsson
Brett Kulak — Kris Letang
Ryan Shea — Jack St. Ivany

Arturs Silovs
Stuart Skinner

Scratched: Danton Heinen, Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton, Kevin Hayes

Injured: Evgeni Malkin (upper body), Caleb Jones (lower body), Filip Hallander (blood clot)

Status report

The Penguins held an optional morning skate … Lizotte will be a game-time decision after practicing on Saturday. He’s missed nine games since sustaining an undisclosed injury on Dec. 7 … Malkin, a center, skated on his own Saturday and will miss his 11th straight game.

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Blackhawks projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi — Jason Dickinson — Landon Slaggert
Teuvo Teravainen — Ryan Donato — Andre Burakovsky
Oliver Moore — Ryan Greene — Ilya Mikheyev
Nick Lardis — Colton Dach — Sam Lafferty

Alex Vlasic — Louis Crevier
Matt Grzelcyk — Artyom Levshunov
Wyatt Kaiser — Connor Murphy

Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom

Scratched: Ethan Del Mastro, Dominic Toninato

Injured: Connor Bedard (upper body), Nick Foligno (hand), Frank Nazar (facial injury)

Status report

The Blackhawks did not hold a morning skate following their 4-3 shootout victory at the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Mikheyev could return after being a scratch for family reasons.

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