{"id":542228,"date":"2026-04-05T15:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542228\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:10:13","slug":"penguins-game-78-round-2-lines-goalies-and-how-to-watch-vs-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542228\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins Game 78, Round 2! Lines, Goalies, and How to Watch vs. Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second verse, same as the first. The\u00a0Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>\u00a0(39-22-16) laid down the law against the Florida Panthers (37-36-3) Saturday in a 9-4 win at PPG Paints Arena, but in an NHL scheduling quirk, the teams will battle again Sunday at PPG, but just 22 hours later. <\/p>\n

The puck drops Sunday at 3 p.m. and Jeff Jimerson returns for the national anthem. <\/p>\n

Saturday was again a very good day for the Penguins and their playoff chase. Just as last Tuesday, the teams pursuing them lost, which maintained the four-way tie for the second wild card spot but also allowed the Penguins to increase their cushion to a full six points with five games to go. The Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> are the sneaky exception, as they have six games remaining and host the Boston Bruins Sunday. <\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 magic number is officially five, but four more points if they include a regulation win will punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs dance. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Penguins jumped to a 2-0 lead before some soft goaltending and defensive mistakes spurred them to greater action. The Penguins scored seven unanswered goals, and Evgeni Malkin<\/a> had four points, including a hat trick in Saturday\u2019s win. <\/p>\n

Everything came up aces for the Penguins, including three power play goals. They gave up a couple of garbage time goals by leaving Silovs to defend a loosely covered two-on-one and a breakaway in the third period, but the game had been already decided. <\/p>\n

Erik Karlsson<\/a> also had four points, including a goal (1-3-4). Anthony Mantha, Rickard Rakell, and Elmer Soderblom had one goal and one assist. Ryan Shea and Noel Acciari scored the other goals. <\/p>\n

In addition to the importance of gaining ground on a playoff spot and Malkin\u2019s hat trick, the game was also notable for the milestones. Sidney Crosby<\/a> had two assists to surpass Steve Yzerman for seventh on the NHL\u2019s all-time scoring list. Crosby now has 1756 points. And Malkin surpassed 1400 career points (1403). <\/p>\n

The Penguins chased Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period. So, there\u2019s a good chance they will see him again Sunday. <\/p>\n

Stuart Skinner will most likely start for the Penguins. <\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/p>\n

TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh <\/p>\n

Radio: 105.9 The X<\/p>\n

Expected Penguins Lines<\/p>\n

Egor Chinakhov-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust<\/p>\n

Anthony Mantha-Rickard Rakell-Justin Brazeau<\/p>\n

Tommy Novak\u2013Ben Kindel-Evgeni Malkin<\/p>\n

Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson<\/p>\n

Sam Girard-Kris Letang<\/p>\n

Ryan Shea-Connor Clifton<\/p>\n

Goalie: Stuart Skinner<\/p>\n

Panthers Lines<\/p>\n

Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett -Matthew Tkachuk<\/p>\n

Mackie Samoskevich-Eetu Luostarinen-A.J. Greer<\/p>\n

Noah Gregor-Tomas Nosek-Jesper Boqvist<\/p>\n

Nolan Foote-Luke Kunin-Vinnie Hinostroza<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

Gustav Forsling-Michael Benning<\/p>\n

Donovan Sebrango-Seth Jones<\/p>\n

Tobias Bjornfot-Mikulas Hovorka<\/p>\n

Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky, expected<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/p>\n

Penguins\u2019 power play: 25.0% 3rd. Penguins penalty kill: 81.7%, 7th.<\/p>\n

Panthers power play: 19.7%, 20th. Panthers penalty kill: 81.1%, 10th. <\/p>\n

Penguins Game Notes<\/p>\n

The Penguins have points in 25 of their last 32 meetings versus the Panthers (18-7-7 record) dating back to Dec. 20, 2014, and the Penguins are 12-3-1 in their last 16 home games against the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Evgeni Malkin registered his 14th career hat trick yesterday for his first three goal game since March 27, 2022, against Detroit. Malkin, 39, became the oldest player in Penguins history to record a hat trick. The only other to record a hat trick at age 38 or older was Mark Recchi (two at age 38). Malkin\u2019s 14 hat tricks are tied with Sidney Crosby for the second most in Penguins history, behind Mario Lemieux\u2019s 40.<\/p>\n

Defenseman Sam Girard has four points (4A) and is plus-6 in his last four games.<\/p>\n

Elmer Soderblom has five points (2-3-5) over his last five games. He has seven points (3-4-7) in 15 games with Pittsburgh after recording three points (2-1-3) over 39 games with Detroit this year.<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 69 points (28-41-69) in 65 games. Crosby, who can play in a maximum of 70 games this season, is one point shy of ensuring he will average a point per game or better for an NHL-record 21st season.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: Florida Panthers<\/a> Penguins game<\/a> Penguins lines<\/a> Penguins starting goalie<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> <\/p>\n

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