Penguins At Panthers Preview: Game Notes, Lineup, And More
Jan 3, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight (30) saves the shot of Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell (67) during a shootout at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images)With a 5-2 record since the Mar. 7 trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Penguins will aim to continue their winning ways in the sunshine state.
On Friday, the Penguins will take on the Florida Panthers to close out the season series - currently split at 1-1 - between the two teams. Most recently, Florida bested the Penguins in their first game of 2025, 3-2, in a shootout loss that ultimately sent Pittsburgh into a downward spiral for most of the next two months.
Head coach Mike Sullivan and his Penguins know what to expect from this team. Six of the last 10 contests have been decided by one goal, with five of them going to overtime.
"They make it a hard game for you," Sullivan said. "They're big, they're strong, they've got a physical game. They dump a lot of pucks in, so there's going to be a lot of retrievals going back for pucks. Our ability to get out of our end is going to be really important... we're going to have to be locked in there as a group of five in getting out of our end.
"That's the game they play. They want to establish a heavy forecheck. And then, the challenge is that we're going to have to win the net front at both ends of the rink."
Jan 3, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) scores against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) during a shootout at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images)Tristan Jarry will get his sixth start in the past seven games, as he is 4-1 with a .928 save percentage in his last five starts. As far as the rest of the lineup, it figures to look like much of the same, with a bit of a shakeup on the first two defensive pairings.
This was the lineup at Saturday's practice:
Forwards:
Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Dewar-Malkin-Tomasino
Koppanen-Lizotte-Acciari
Imama-Hayes-Heinen
Defensemen:
Grzelcyk-Letang
Timmins-Karlsson
Graves-Kolyachonok
Sullivan is pleased with how his forward unit has responded in the last handful of games, and they like the lineup they have up front.
"I think we've settled into that four-line group," Sullivan said. "We think that it gives us the best chance to have success. Sid's line has been fairly constant, but we've moved a lot of guys around the next three, but with what we have right now, we think the combinations we have right now are the combinations that give us the best chance for different reasons."
Mar 21, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Noel Acciari (55) reacts after scoring a goal with left wing Joona Koppanen (15) and center Blake Lizotte (46) against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)Florida has lost three out of its last four contests, including a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals Saturday in the first leg of their back-to-back. With star forward Matthew Tkachuk likely out for the rest of the regular season, they have needed more scoring from up and down their lineup. They've scored just 12 goals in their last six games.
Keep an eye out for Sidney Crosby, who now sits just four points shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky's point-per-game seasons record. Crosby has 30 goals and 66 points in 52 career games against the Panthers.
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