The Pittsburgh Penguins' lineup will look dramatically different as they gear up to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
The Penguins will be without two key contributors for the game. Bryan Rust is set to miss significant time because of a lower-body injury. Ben Kindel also will not play after sustaining a medical episode following Pittsburgh's matchup against the Utah Mammoth.
As confirmed by Daily Faceoff via Pens Inside Scoop, Arturs Silovs will man the Penguins' net when the puck drops vs. Florida.
Silovs is looking to get back on track after losing three of his last five contests. Going into Thursday, he's 3-3-0, with an .866 save percentage, a 3.51 GAA, and a shutout. His last five contests have him going 2-3-0, with an .848 save percentage and 21 goals allowed, or 4.2 per game.
Silovs isn't the only one struggling. The Penguins have had a hard time getting in sync as a team following their convincing 7-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in September. Pittsburgh is 2-6-1 in their last nine, and opponents have outscored them 38-26.
If Silovs is looking to make his mark, Thursday night's matchup is a good place to start. Especially vs. a Florida Panthers team that is looking to put Brady Tkachuk's ill-fated homecoming behind them.
Daily Faceoff cited Pens Inside Scoop for Pittsburgh's projected lines and pairings. It looks like Tommy Novak will join Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell on the first line. Novak continues to pace the Penguins' forwards group with eight points in 10 games. He also has three goals and an 18.8 shooting percentage.
Ville Koivunen, Hendrix LaPierre, and Evgeni Malkin are slated for the second line. Malkin leads all Penguins players with five goals in 10 games. The third line appears to be Andrei Kuzmenko, Blake Lizotte, and Egor Chinakhov. Lizotte is third on the team and first among Penguins forwards with 11 blocked shots.
Elmer Soderblom looks like he will see his fifth game of the season as he and Nicholas Robertson are slated to flank Connor Dewar on the fourth line. Soderblom has eight hits and 11:01 of average total ice time.
Spencer Stastney is projected to line up alongside Erik Karlsson on the first pairing. Karlsson has 11 points and a goal on the season. His points total leads all Penguins players.
Declan Carlile and Kaedan Korczak are the projected second pairing. Carlile could add more scoring prowess. He has three goals and a 20.0 shooting percentage heading into Thursday's game. Ilya Solovyov and Kris Letang make up the third pairing. Solovyov has five points (all assists) in 15 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The biggest question heading into Thursday night is how these changes may affect the Penguins in their clash with Florida. Will Silovs step up and deliver a big outing, and will the new lines be more in sync than what fans have seen throughout the first 10 games of the season?
Florida will give the Penguins a few answers and quite the challenge as faceoff draws nearer. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. EDT in this early-season showdown between two teams looking to get back on track.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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