Florida @ Pittsburgh preview
PPG Paints Arena
Last Meeting ( Nov 11, 2021 ) Florida 2, Pittsburgh 3
It will be something of a clash of titans Tuesday when the Florida Panthers visit the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Panthers and Penguins are both division-title hopefuls who sit in the top six in the NHL.
Florida leapfrogged the Tampa Bay Lightning into first in the Atlantic Division by walloping the host Buffalo Sabres 6-1 on Monday behind Aleksander Barkov's goal and two assists.
The Panthers have broken out of a three-game losing streak with a follow-up three-game winning streak, outscoring the latest three opponents 15-3.
"This group realizes where they want to be and where they want to go," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "It's not too hard to motivate them. I think they want to be great."
The games at Buffalo and Pittsburgh kick off a stretch of nine of 10 on the road for the Panthers. Florida is 13-7-5 away from home.
"Every game's a challenge, especially on the road in the NHL," Brunette said. "We've been really good on home ice, and we want to be a really good road team."
Spencer Knight made 29 saves in net Monday for the Panthers. It is likely Sergei Bobrovsky will start in Pittsburgh to complete the team's back-to-back set.
One thing to watch for is the status of prodigious Florida rookie Anton Lundell, who left the game against Buffalo with an apparent left leg injury. Brunette said Lundell's injury did not initially look to be serious and that the 20-year-old center would be further evaluated Tuesday.
For Pittsburgh, which is 6-3-1 in its past 10, it will be the third straight game against a top-tier opponent, following a 5-1 win at Tampa Bay and a 3-2 overtime road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on successive nights last week.
The Penguins, in a battle with the Hurricanes and the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title, embrace the run against strong opponents.
"I said to our players I think it's great that we're playing teams that are legitimate contending teams," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "These teams (in this stretch) are all at the top of the league in the standings. It's great for us because it forces us to have to bring our 'A' game to have success. It makes us better. And it prepares us for the games that we have in front of us."
In the teams' first two meetings -- a 5-4 Florida home win in overtime on Oct. 14 and a 3-2 Pittsburgh home win in a shootout on Nov. 11 -- the Penguins were without their two star centers, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who were rehabbing from offseason surgery.
Now those two are back and playing at a high level. Crosby has a six-game point streak and three-game goal streak, and Malkin has points in seven of his past eight games.
Pittsburgh seems likely to get Teddy Blueger back from a 16-game absence in the wake of surgery to repair a broken jaw. Blueger is a two-way center who is one of the team's top penalty-killers and faceoff men.
"He adds so much versatility to our lineup," Penguins winger Bryan Rust, who is slated to play his 400th NHL game Tuesday, said of Blueger. "We rely on him a lot. If the opportunity comes to get him back (Tuesday), it's going to be really nice."
--Field Level Media