The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to beat the Florida Panthers in the first half of their back-to-back against them.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will welcome the Florida Panthers to Pittsburgh for the first half of a back-to-back on Saturday. The two teams will play again in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
It's the type of back-to-back that you don't see super often on the schedule, but that's how it shook out for this season. These two teams met for the first time back on Oct. 23, with the Penguins winning 5-3.
The Penguins had a 3-1 lead through two periods before doing enough in the third period to secure the win.
The Panthers had a much different lineup in that game than they do now. They're currently without Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, Dmitry Kulikov, Niko Mikkola, and Jonah Gadjovich. Of those players, Kulikov could return this weekend.
Despite their injury-riddled season, the Panthers have played well this week, beating the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. They'll look to play spoiler against a Penguins team that is fighting to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Panthers still have Sam Bennett, who has compiled 26 goals and 57 points in 72 games this year. Carter Verhaeghe has also been good with 23 goals and 53 points in 73 games. Don't forget about Matthew Tkachuk, too. He has 13 goals and 31 points in 28 games since coming back from injury.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will start in at least one of the two games this weekend. He has recorded 27 wins, a 2.96 goals-against average, and a .881 save percentage this year.
Here's a look at the projected Penguins' lineup:
Forwards
Chinakhov-Crosby-Rust
Novak-Kindel-Malkin
Mantha-Rakell-Brazeau
Soderblom-Dewar-Acciari
Defensive pairs
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Girard-Letang
Shea-Clifton
Penguins head coach Dan Muse will announce a starting goaltender when he talks to the media at 3 p.m. ET.
Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Fans can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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