The Penguins open up the season with a lineup that isn’t very strong with all of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel on the sidelines. With Mike Matheson as a game-day scratch dealing with a nagging lower-body injury, Marcus Pettersson bumps up a pair and Mark Friedman gets the opportunity to play.
First period
It’s a quiet first period, which is a good start for the visitors on banner raising night for the homestanding opponent. The Lightning look mostly sleepy, and the Penguins win the shot battle 14-7, 64% of the faceoffs and generally get the better of the play.