SUNRISE, Fla. — There appears to be little reason for Pittsburgh Penguins (5-2-0) coach Dan Muse to tinker with his lineup. The Penguins have won three in a row and will face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (4-4-0) at Amerant Bank Arena.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m.
For the flip side coverage, visit George Richards and our colleagues at Florida Hockey Now.
The Penguins shook off a messy start against the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday. Conor Garland scored on Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs on the first shot of the game, but Silovs stopped every shot afterward and the Penguins exploded for three goals in 3:08 late in the second period for a 5-1 win at PPG Paints Arena.
Connor Dewar, Tommy Novak, Sidney Crosby, Anthony Mantha, and Justin Brazeau scored for the Penguins. The game also marked a pair of Penguins historical moments as Crosby surpassed Mario Lemieux for the most all-time points (1896) when combining playoffs and the regular season.
In typical Crosby fashion, he downplayed the achievement, noting, “Yeah, I mean it’s probably 500 more games (than Lemieux), and I’ve been here for a long time and fortunate to play with some great players,” said Crosby. “So, that’s how I look at it.”
Penguins defenseman Kris Letang became just the fourth active defenseman and 20th all-time to reach 600 assists.
Florida is coming off an emotional game in Boston Tuesday. It was Brad Marchand’s return to Boston, his first since Boston traded him near the deadline last March. The Boston crowd gave Marchand, the former Bruins captain, over a minute-long standing ovation, and continued cheering after that.
Marchand wept on the bench, and Florida beat Boston 4-3.
If the Penguins goalie rotation continues as-is, Tristan Jarry will get the call Thursday.
The Panthers are without their top center Sasha Barkov, who is lost for the season following knee surgery. Matthew Tkachuk is on the injured list until mid-season, and Dmitri Kulikov and Tomas Nosek are also on IR.
How to Watch the Penguins Game
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Expected Penguins Lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha-Evgeni Malkin-Justin Brazeau
Tommy Novak-Ben Kindel-Filip Hallander
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Defense
Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Kris Letang
Caleb Jones-Harrison Brunicke Connor Clifton
Goalie: Tristan Jarry
Panthers Lines
From Florida Hockey Now:
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Brad Marchand
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich-Evan Rodrigues-Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer-Luke Kunin-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense
Gus Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis-Jeff Petry
Expected Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky
Special Teams
Penguins power play: 26.3%, 6th. Penguins penalty kill: 81.8%, 13th.
Panthers power play: 20.6%, 16th. Panthers penalty kill: 82.8%, 12th.
Penguins Game Notes
The sunshine helps. The Penguins have points in five of its last seven games here at Amerant Bank Arena.
Rickard Rakell is riding an active four-game point streak (1-3-4).
No team in the NHL has allowed fewer goals against in the third period than
the Penguins (3).
Only the Boston Bruins (143) and the Seattle Kraken (133) have blocked more
shots this season than the Penguins (130).
Justin Brazeau’s five goals in seven games are the fourth-most goals ever scored by a Penguins player in their first seven games with the team (Evgeni Malkin – 7, Pete Mahovlich – 7, Andy Bathgate – 6).
The triple tree line: Justin Brazeau, Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Mantha have been huge contributors for the Penguins this season. The line features the Penguins’ goals leader (Brazeau, 5), assist leader (Malkin, 8), and points leader (Malkin, 10) and the trio have combined for a total of 10 goals and 24 points at all strengths.
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Categorized: Penguins Pregame