Projected Lineups for Penguins vs Canadiens – 12/20/25

The Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

PENGUINS (14-10-9) at CANADIENS (18-12-4)

7 p.m. ET; TVAS, CITY, SNE, SN-PIT

Penguins projected lineup

Tommy Novak — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha — Rickard Rakell — Justin Brazeau
Ville Koivunen — Ben Kindel — Rutger McGroarty
Connor Dewar — Kevin Hayes — Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon — Erik Karlsson
Brett Kulak — Kris Letang
Ryan Shea — Connor Clifton

Stuart Skinner
Arturs Silovs

Scratched: Danton Heinen, Ryan Graves, Jack St. Ivany

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

Status report

Rakell will center the second line for the Penguins, and Novak shifts to left wing on their top line. “The ability to attack through the middle of the ice, I think it’s something that comes natural for (Rakell),” coach Dan Muse said. “You’ll get that some when you’re playing the wing, but you might get it a little bit more when you’re playing in the middle.” … Kulak will play with Letang on the second defense pair, and Shea moves to the third pair with Clifton.

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Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Zack Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier — Jake Evans — Josh Anderson
Joe Veleno — Owen Beck — Brendan Gallagher

Mike Matheson — Alexandre Carrier
Lane Hutson — Noah Dobson
Arber Xhekaj — Adam Engstrom

Jacob Fowler
Jakub Dobes

Scratched: Jayden Struble, Phillip Danault

Injured: Kirby Dach (broken foot), Alex Newhook (broken ankle), Kaiden Guhle (lower body), Patrik Laine (lower body)

Status report

Danault, who was reacquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, will not play either of Montreal’s games this weekend. He is expected to join the Canadiens for their game at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. … Matheson returns after missing two games with an upper-body injury. … Guhle, a defenseman, and Dach, a forward, were on the ice before an optional morning skate. … The Canadiens assigned forward Jared Davidson to Laval of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

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