{"id":536370,"date":"2026-04-02T10:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536370\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:34:21","slug":"nhl-game-preview-pittsburgh-penguins-at-tampa-bay-lightning-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536370\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning with Line Combinations 04\/02\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\tNHL Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning with Line Combinations 04\/02\/2026 | Inside The Rink<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"skip-link screen-reader-text\" href=\"#content\">Skip to content<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/\" class=\"custom-logo-link\" rel=\"home nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"90\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764203590_941_Clean-Logo-1.png\" class=\"custom-logo\" alt=\"Inside The Rink Logo\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/boxscorejunkie.com\/nhl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775126055_622_cropped-Life-Insurance.png .webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/\" rel=\"home nofollow noopener\" itemprop=\"item\" target=\"_blank\">Home<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/category\/nhl\/\" itemprop=\"item\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL<\/a>NHL Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning with Line Combinations 04\/02\/2026<\/p>\n<p>          <img width=\"1200\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-89.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>AP Photo\/Chris O&#8217;Meara<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Penguins (38-21-16, 92 pts) at Tampa Bay Lightning (46-22-6, 98 pts)<\/p>\n<p>Venue: Benchmark International Arena<br \/>Date: Thursday, April 2<br \/>Time: 7:00 pm EST<br \/>How To Watch:\u00a0ESPN+\/SN-PIT\/The Spot<br \/>Radio: 105.9 The X\/102.5 FM The Bone<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ticketmaster.evyy.net\/c\/5142595\/264167\/4272?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Penguins &amp; Notes:<\/p>\n<p>The Penguins picked up their 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Tuesday night. It was their second win in a row and third win in their last four games, averaging five goals per game while allowing 3.3 goals per game.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Lightning News &amp; Notes:<\/p>\n<p>The Lightning suffered a 4-1 loss to the Canadiens to snap a two-game winning streak; it also snapped their eight-game point streak. They closed out March going 8-6-2, averaging 3.7 goals per game while allowing 3.4 goals per game.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Penguins Projected Lines<\/p>\n<p>Chinakhov-Crosby-Rakell <br \/>Mantha-Novak-Malkin<br \/>Hayes-Kindel-Brazeau<br \/>Soderblom-Dewar-Acciari<\/p>\n<p>Wotherspoon-Karlsson<br \/>Girard-Letang<br \/>Shea-Clifton<\/p>\n<p>Skinner<br \/>Silovs<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.insidetherink.com\/collections\/pittsburgh-hockey?_pos=1&amp;_psq=pittsburgh&amp;_ss=e&amp;_v=1.0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Get Pittsburgh Hockey Merchandise Here:<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines:<\/p>\n<p>Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov <br \/>Guentzel-Point-Goncalves <br \/>Girgensons-Gourde-Holmberg<br \/>Perry-Paul-Sabourin<\/p>\n<p>Raddysh-Moser <br \/>McDonagh-Cernak <br \/>D\u2019Astous-Lilleberg<\/p>\n<p>Vasilevskiy<br \/>Johansson<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.insidetherink.com\/search?q=Tampa+Bay&amp;options%5Bprefix%5D=last\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Get your Tampa Bay Hockey Merchandise Here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Players To Watch:<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n<p>Kris Letang has an assist in each game against the Lightning this season. <\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Hagel had two goals in one of the two games against the Penguins this season. <\/p>\n<p>Injury Report:<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n<p>C\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/tag\/filip-hallander\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Filip Hallander<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 IR<br \/>G\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/player-profile-joel-blomqvist\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joel Blomqvist<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 IR<br \/>D\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/tag\/jack-st-ivany\/\" id=\"6948\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack St. Ivany<\/a> \u2013 IR<br \/>F Bryan Rust \u2013 DTD<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n<p>F Dominic James \u2013 IR<br \/>D Maxwell Crozier \u2013 IR<br \/>F Declan Carlile \u2013 IR<br \/>D Victor Hedman \u2013 DTD<\/p>\n<p>Next Game:<\/p>\n<p>\tDiscover more from Inside The Rink<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px\">Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/author\/clavallee\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775126058_729_276326315b493f582c4d87a8721917f57a6f9df6b8a3bc8ca3c490d0be2e9c6e.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-75 photo\" height=\"75\" width=\"75\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>              <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/nhl-game-preview-buffalo-sabres-at-ottawa-senators-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" class=\"featured-image\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n          <img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-91-300x150.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>        <\/a>            <\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/nhl-game-preview-buffalo-sabres-at-ottawa-senators-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres at Ottawa Senators with Line Combinations 04\/02\/2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Buffalo Sabres (46-21-8, 100 pts)\u00a0at\u00a0Ottawa Senators (38-26-10, 86 pts)Venue: Canadian Tire CentreDate: Thursday, April 2Time: 7:00 pm ESTHow To Watch: ESPN+\/MSG-B\/RDS2\/TSN5Radio: 550 WGR AM\/TSN 1200 CFGO-AMPurchase tickets via Ticketmaster Buffalo Sabres News &amp; Notes: The Sabres picked up their second straight win on Tuesday with a 4-3 win over the Islanders. They\u2019re recorded points in [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/nhl-game-preview-buffalo-sabres-at-ottawa-senators-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" title=\"\" class=\"readmore\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n          Read More        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>              <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/nhl-game-preview-columbus-blue-jackets-at-carolina-hurricanes-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" class=\"featured-image\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n          <img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-90-300x150.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>        <\/a>            <\/p>\n<p>              <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/nhl-game-preview-detroit-red-wings-at-philadelphia-flyers-with-line-combinations-04-02-2026\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" class=\"featured-image\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n          <img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775126061_344_Untitled-design-88-300x150.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>        <\/a>            <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\u00a9 2021-2025 Inside The Rink\u00ae<\/p>\n<p>This website has no affiliation to any of the hockey leagues it reports on. All materials not owned by Inside The Rink LLC are used for editorial purposes only. <a href=\"https:\/\/insidetherink.com\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHL Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning with Line Combinations 04\/02\/2026 | Inside The Rink Skip&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[2216,97,5,5236,1499,189,2218,4,5573,100,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":{"0":"post-536370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-atlantic-division","9":"tag-brandon-hagel","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-injury-report","12":"tag-kris-letang","13":"tag-lightning","14":"tag-metropolitan-division","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nhl-game-preview","17":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","18":"tag-tampa-bay","19":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","20":"tag-tampabay","21":"tag-tampabaylightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116334668828923222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}