The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to snap a three-game losing streak in a Thanksgiving Eve matchup against the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
And they might have a little bit more help.
Forward Blake Lizotte, who has been out since Nov. 13 with a concussion, was activated from injured reserve Wednesday afternoon. The concussion was his second this season, and both occurred after getting hit with pucks in the face from friendly fire.
In addition, forward Philip Tomasino - who was acquired from the Nashville Predators on Monday for a 2027 fourth-round pick - will make his Penguins' debut. Tomasino has been skating on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Beauvillier in practice, and he will occupy that same spot Wednesday.
Head coach Mike Sullivan said that they do their best to ease new players into the system and the type of game that they want to play but that there isn't as much difference between team systems as some may think. Therefore, they want to walk the line of giving Tomasino room to act on instinct while slowly introducing more systemic detail into his game.
"Our approach has always been that when we get a player, and we're trying to assimilate him into the group, we don't want to give him too much too soon because we don't want to turn them into robots," Sullivan said. "We don't want them out there where their thought process gets in the way of their instincts. And it's such an instinctive game. So, we'll give him a basic foundation of how we're trying to play in all three zones on both sides of the puck, and then we'll add layers of detail as we go so that we don't overwhelm him with information."
In addition to Lizotte and Tomasino, goaltender Tristan Jarry will get the start in goal, as he is coming off of his two best performances of the season. Defensemen Ryan Graves and Owen Pickering (illness) are out, and Ryan Shea and Jack St. Ivany are in.
Here is the full lineup that the Penguins will ice against Vancouver:
