Graphic design: Francisco Oporta & Todd Little

The Florida Panthers (37-35-3) will open its final road trip of the season when the play the first of two back-to-back games at PPG Paints Arena against the Pittsburgh Penguins (38-22-16) this evening.

Florida surprised the disengaged Boston Bruins to complete the season-series sweep with a hard-fought 2-1 victory. Mackie Samoskevich scored for the third-straight game 4:20 into the tilt and Sam Bennett added on 3:19 later, from A.J. Greer, to give the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish. Fraser Minten was the only Bruin to beat a stellar Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 28 saves, including 15 in a busy third period.

While the Cats were holding off Boston, the Penguins got thumped 6-3 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena. Egor Chinakov scored twice and Rickard Rakell also lit the lamp for Pittsburgh, who got two assists for veteran defenseman Kris Letang. Stuart Skinner took the loss, surrendering five goals on 32 shots faced. Despite the defeat, the Penguins are closing in on their first postseason appearance since 2022.

WHEN: 5 p.m. ET

WHERE: PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA

ON THE TUBE: Scripps, SN-PIT

ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)

SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #LetsGoPens, #FLAvsPIT, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook

ENEMY INTEL: PensBurgh

FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (0-1)

LAST MEETING: PIT 5, @FLA 3 (Recap) – 10/23/2025

NEXT MEETING: April 5, 2026

PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Tarasov (10-14-2 .897 / 3.09 0SO) Pittsburgh: Silovs (17-10-8 .891 / 2.99 2SO)

PLAYER STATS: Florida / Pittsburgh

Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

DETROIT (40-27-8 88P) at New York Rangers (31-36-9 71P) 12:30 p.m. (ABC)

Minnesota (42-21-12 96P) at OTTAWA (39-26-10 88P) 1 p.m.

BOSTON (43-25-8 94P) at TAMPA BAY (47-22-6 100P) 5 p.m.

MONTREAL (44-21-10 98P) at New Jersey (39-34-2 80P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)

BUFFALO (46-22-8 100P) at Washington (38-29-9 85P) 7 p.m.

TORONTO (32-31-13 77P) at Los Angeles (30-26-19 79P) 7 p.m.