Penguins
Penguins Game 27; Champs Await; Lines, News & How to Watch vs. Panthers
The Pittsburgh Penguins (10-12-4) have won three in a row and beginning to look like a competent NHL team after a couple of months of succumbing to their worst instincts. However, they’ll face one of the best teams in the NHL, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (15-9-1) at PPG Paints Arena.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m.
The Penguins won both ends of their back-to-backs last weekend. They defeated the Boston Bruins in Boston on Friday, 2-1, and they boat-raced the Calgary Flames 6-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
The Penguins’ second power-play unit scored three goals. Michael Bunting, Philip Tomasino, and Kris Letang scored the power play goals in between Anthony Beauvillier scoring his seventh goal of the season to open the scoring, and Blake Lizotte scoring his fourth of the season to close it in the runaway win.
Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was brilliant, including this glove save on Rasmus Andersson.
However, Tristan Jarry, who defeated Boston on Friday, will start for the Penguins on Tuesday. Jarry improved his record to 3-3-1 and his save percentage to .881. Tuesday, the Penguins re-assigned Jack St. Ivany to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and activated forward Cody Glass.
Florida has also won three in a row, including beating the Carolina Hurricanes in consecutive games, 6-3 and 6-0, respectively.
“We played Pittsburgh three times early last season when their schedule was reasonable, and they were all you could handle,’’ Florida coach Paul Maurice said Monday. “Pittsburgh has some high-end guys who play very fast, and they are playing with confidence. That makes them dangerous.’’
Florida is also dangerous. Sergei Bobrovsky is unavailable on Tuesday as he and his wife are expecting their second child. Spencer Knight will start.
Read More: Panthers Send Top Rookie to Minors; There’s a Good Reason
Penguins Lines
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Drew O’Connor-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Michael Bunting-Blake Lizotte-Anthony Beauvillier
Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Kevin Hayes
Defense
Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Owen Pickering-Ryan Shea
Goalie: Tristan Jarry
Panthers Lines
Evan Rodrigues-Sasha Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Eklbad
Niko Mikkala-Nate Schmidt
Dmitri Kulikov-Adam Boqvist
Goalie: Spencer Knight
Special Teams:
Penguins power play: 23.0%, 12th. Penguins penalty kill: 80.5%, 13th.
Panthers power play: 24.4%, 8th. Panthers penalty kill: 80.,8%, 10th.
Penguins Game Notes
The Penguins are 10-3-1 in their last 14 home games against Florida dating back to Dec. 20, 2014.
This is the final of the Penguins’ home stretch, in which they played seven of eight games at home.
Matt Nieto has seven goals and 10 points (7-3-10) in 15 career games against the Panthers.
The Penguins are 6-2-2 with Blake Lizotte in the lineup.
Michael Bunting has nine points (5-4-9) over his last 13 games after recording just one point (1A) in his first 12 games.
How to Watch
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh; Radio: 105.9 The X
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