The Pittsburgh Penguins (3-6-1) are awash in adversity. The team has lost four games in a row and seven of eight, including a shootout loss. The team got bad injury news on top-line winger Bryan Rust Thursday and placed center Ben Kindel on injured reserve after his medical episode on the team flight home from Salt Lake City Tuesday. With new lines and a lot of ongoing changes, the Penguins face the Florida Panthers at PPG Paints Arena Thursday.
The puck drops just after 7 p.m., and Kevin Rabbits sings the National Anthem.
The Penguins are only slight underdogs on the FanDuel Moneyline board , though it seems bettors are more interested in other games .
The Penguins have not had a good time over the last few weeks. The team had just one regulation win in the first 10 games, and that was a 7-0 blowout win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins' most recent loss looked much better on the scoreboard than it did in real life, as the team lost 5-4 to the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center.
Erik Karlsson scored the first goal of the game. Rickard Rakell , Egor Chinakhov and Declan Carlile also lit the lamp. Artur Silovs was quite good, though statistically he stopped only 24 of 29 shots.
The Penguins were again beset by poor defensive zone coverage, lost net-front battles and turnovers, though they sniped a couple of third-period goals to make it close.
Florida had a wild ride Wednesday night, and that might not be good news for the Penguins. Boos, jeers, and angry chants rained down on Florida winger Brady Tkachuk from the spurned Ottawa Senators fans as Ottawa pulled away for a physical 5-1 win at the Canadian Tire Center.
Tkachuk scored Florida's only goal. Goalie Akira Schmid stopped 25 shots.
Florida is expected to make history Thursday when 6-foot-8 Cooper Black will start in goal. He is believed to be the biggest goalie in NHL history.
Silovs will start again for the Penguins.
UPDATE: Egor Chinakhov is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Radio: 105.9 The X
Tommy Novak-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Ville Koivunen-Hendrix Lapierre-Evgeni Malkin
Andrei Kuzmenko-Blake Lizotte-Rutger McGroarty
Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Nick Robertson
Spencer Stastney-Erik Karlsson
Declan Carlile-Kaedan Korczak
Ilya Solovyov-Kris Letang
Goalie: Arturs Silovs
Brady Tkachuk-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Reinhart-Lars Eller
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Sandis Vilmanis
Bokondji Imama-Cole Schwindt-Garnet Hathaway
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov-Radko Gudas
Goalie: Cooper Black
Penguins power play: 23.3% (9th). Penguins penalty kill: 80.8% (15th).
Panthers power play: 20.9% (17th). Panthers penalty kill: 80.6% (13th).
Erik Karlsson's five power-play points are tied for second among NHL defensemen. Karlsson has 11 points (1-10-11) in 10 games.
Sidney Crosby is one assist away from tying Ray Bourque (1111) for the most all-time with one franchise.
Surprisingly, the Penguins were 3-0-0 against Florida last season, outscoring them 19-9. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had eight points over those three games, with three goals and five assists.
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