Game Preview: Florida Panthers @ Pittsburgh Penguins 12/3/2024

The Pens can extend their win streak to four games if they defeat the reigning Stanley Cup champs tonight.

Who: Florida Panthers (15-9-1, 31 points, 1st place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (10-12-4, 24 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7 p.m. ET

How to Watch: SN-PIT, SCRIPPS, national streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: It’s not getting much easier from here. The Pens cap off the week with a back-to-back set against playoff contenders with a Friday road game against the New York Rangers followed by a Saturday visit by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Opponent Track: After winning 11 of their first 15 games to start the season, the reigning Stanley Cup champs went through a two-week mid-November slump with six losses in seven games. But the Panthers have rebounded over the past week and will enter the contest on a three-game win streak after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs once and Carolina Hurricanes twice.

Season Series: The Pens take on the Panthers twice more during trips to Florida in January and March.

Hidden Stat: It’s been almost two years since the Penguins last beat the Panthers. Since a 7-6 overtime win in Florida on Jan. 24, 2023, the Pens have lost four straight to the Cats.

Getting to know the Panthers

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Evan Rodrigues - Aleksander Barkov - Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe - Sam Bennett - Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer - Tomas Nosek - Jonah Gadjovich

DEFENSEMEN

Gustav Forsling / Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola / Nate Schmidt

Dmitry Kulikov / Adam Boqvist

Goalies: Spencer Knight, Chris Driedger

IR: None

Potential Scratches: Sergei Bobrovsky (his wife is expecting their second child)

• With Bobrovsky out, Spencer Knight could be set to get a second straight start. He’s coming off a 20-save shutout of the Carolina Hurricanes on Satruday. The netminder stood tall to turn aside 18 shots through the first two periods before the Panthers’ offense took over in the third.

“He’s building as the season’s gone on, from his start tonight to his first start, there’s clearly an improvement every time he goes out. Our schedule now for the rest of the year says he’s just going to get more starts too, and we’re still sitting on a lot of back-to-backs coming up. He’s also earned them. He’s been really good. I don’t really look at the goaltenders’ numbers to tell you how he’s playing. Tonight, he found pucks through traffic. We did a marvelous job boxing out and when we didn’t, he was right there and sharp.” —Panthers head coach Paul Maurice on Knight after Saturday’s shutout, per The Hockey News’ David Dwork

• If Knight starts tonight, it will mark his first career appearance against the Penguins.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• With Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin limited by injuries, Sam Reinhart has taken over the NHL goalscoring race. He leads the league with 18 goal in 24 goals, including an NHL-best short-handed tallies, going into Tuesday.

• Aleksander Barkov has been similarly dominant as a playmaker with 18 assists in 17 games so far this season.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Drew O’Connor - Evgeni Malkin - Philip Tomasino

Michael Bunting - Blaze Lizotte - Anthony Beauvillier

Matt Nieto - Noel Acciari - Kevin Hayes

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Owen Pickering / Ryan Shea

Goalies: Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic

Potential Scratches: Ryan Graves, Jesse Puljujarvi, Jack St. Ivany

IR: Cody Glass (concussion)

• Glass was a full participant in Monday’s practice, but Mike Sullivan said his status hasn’t changed.
• Rickard Rakell leads the Penguins with 10 goals after scoring in three straight during the ongoing win streak.
• Sidney Crosby milestone watch: the captain is two assists shy of tying Gordie Howe (1,023) for the fifth most with one franchise in NHL history, per Pens PR.
• Sidney Crosby mustache update: