Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (9-4-2, 20 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ New Jersey Devils (10-4-1, 20 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division)

How to Watch: SN-PIT and MSGSN, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins have just one home game remaining— a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Los Angeles Kings— before their upcoming trip to Sweden. The international series will see the Pens take on the Nashville Predators in international games next Friday and Sunday.

Opponent Track: The Devils started the 2025-26 season on a tear by winning eight of their first nine games. Even after a 2-3-0 stretch, most recently featuring Thursday’s overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens, the team is still sitting on top of the Metropolitan Division.

Season Series: These two teams won’t meet again until 2026. The Pens are hosting the Devils on Jan. 8 and Feb. 26, then making a return to New Jersey on April 9.

Hidden Stat: The Devils were the first team this season to win 10 games. The Pens can steal away the division lead if they can match that total tonight, but they’ll have to hand the Devils their first home loss of the season to do it.

Getting to know the Devils

Projected lines (from Friday’s practice)

Stefan Noesen – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Dawson Mercer

Ondrej Palat – Cody Glass – Arseny Gritsyuk

Paul Cotter – Juho Lammikko – Luke Glendening

Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec

Brenden Dillon – Luke Hughes

Dennis Cholowski – Colton White

Goalies: Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen

Potential scratches: Dougie Hamilton (injury) Connor Brown (injury), Brian Halonen

Injured reserve: Marc McLaughlin, Zack MacEwen, Evgenii Dadonov, Johnathan Kovacevic, Brett Pesce

  • Dougie Hamilton is still being evaluated after suffering a lower body injury during Thursday’s overtime win against the Canadiens, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters Friday. That’s a worrying news for Hamilton, who missed 18 games last season and 62 the year before. If he is sidelined, Colton White is set to make his first NHL appearance since 2023.
  • The Devils and Penguins are both seeing early success on special teams. The Penguins have the top power play (91.3 percent) and eighth-ranked penalty kill (87.2 percent). The Devils rank No. 6 in both the power play (27 percent) and penalty kill (87.2 percent).

When speaking about the Pens’ power play, defenseman Brenden Dillon credited the unit’s success so far this season at least in part to the relationship between Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang (h/t Devils team reporter Amanda Stein).

“I think for tomorrow, a team that those guys have been together not just years, but decades, they know each other, they can read off one another,” Dillon said, per Stein.

Stein added that the Devils will “try and stay out of the box,” but if forced to the kill will try to “have some good sticks and just be aware.”

  • Jack Hughes looks like he’s back to his old self after recovering from the shoulder surgery that ended his 2024-25 season early. As of Friday, he’s tied for second in the NHL scoring race with 10 goals in his first 14 games of the season.
  • Jesper Bratt is meanwhile on pace for his third straight point-per-game campaign with five goals and 10 assists.
  • Jacob Markstrom has been inconsistent through this early stretch of the season, during which he’s missed some time due to injury. His stats are mostly marred by the eight goals he let in during an Oct. 28 blowout loss at the Colorado Avalanche.

Projected lines (from Friday’s practice)

Ben Kindel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin – Anthony Mantha

Joona Koppanen – Kevin Hayes – Ville Koivunen (Philip Tomasino)

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Danton Heinen

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov

Potential Scratches: Harrison Brunicke, Matt Dumba,

IR: Noel Acciari, Tristan Jarry, Justin Brazeau, Jack St. Ivany, Rutger McGroarty, Joel Blomqvist, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Filip Hallander

  • Hallander joined the Penguins’ long injured reserve list Friday following the diagnosis of a blood clot in his leg.
  • Ben Kindel is still skating alongside Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust after recording four points (two goals, two assists) in his last two games on the top line.