Jan 3, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (25) controls the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Owen Pickering (38) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/56d6f8b6-3241-4c7c-b67c-574b6abe9b63.jpeg] Jan 3, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (25) controls the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Owen Pickering (38) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images) Finally back on home ice after a long and exasperating road trip, the Florida Panthers are looking to get back on track. After dropping four of six on the roadie, Florida will welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins for a Sunday night soiree at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. The Panthers are fresh off Saturday’s 6-3 defeat in Washington D.C. while the Penguins are playing some of their best hockey of the season while desperately trying to make ground in the playoff race. Entering play Sunday, Pittsburgh is seven points behind Montreal for the second Wild Card spot with 11 games to go and five teams to climb over just to reach the Habs. They’re putting in the work, winning five of their past six, though it may be too little too late considering their 5-1-0 run comes on the heels of a 1-7-1 stretch. Florida, meanwhile, remains in a first place with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. The Panthers had maintained a four-point edge over Toronto for weeks, but it quickly evaporated over the past several days. That’ll happen when you’re in a neck and neck race and suddenly drop four of six. We’ll see if the Cats can claw out two points against the Penguins on Sunday before they take a nice long break between games. Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s showdown with the Pens: Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Jonah Gadjovich Gus Forsling – Seth Jones Niko Mikkola – Tobias Bjornfot Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis Scratches: Tomas Nosek, Brad Marchand, Dmitry Kulikov LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Three takeaways: Panthers not ready for Caps' rush game, Samoskevich gets look on top line [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-panthers-not-ready-for-caps-rush-game-samoskevich-gets-look-on-top-line] Panthers end road trip with 6-3 loss to East-leading Capitals [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-end-road-trip-with-6-3-loss-to-east-leading-capitals] Panthers wrap up road trip against Capitals as division leaders clash in DC [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-wrap-up-road-trip-against-capitals-as-division-leaders-clash-in-dc] The Hockey Show: GM meetings and playoff races with David Pagnotta and Adnan Virk [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/the-hockey-show-gm-meetings-and-playoff-races-with-david-pagnotta-and-adnan-virk] Three takeaways: Panthers earn essential two points in Columbus, game had playoff-level intensity [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-panthers-earn-essential-two-points-in-columbus-game-had-playoff-level-intensity]
