Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Florida Panthers 3/23/2025

The Pens match up with the defending Stanley Cup champs for the final time this season.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (29-32-10, 68 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Florida Panthers (42-25-3, 87 points, 2nd place Atlantic Division)

When: 6:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: SN-PIT for the Pittsburgh area, SCRIPPS around South Florida, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The road swing continues this week with a Tuesday trip to meet the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by a Thursday matchup with the Buffalo Sabres.

Opponent Track: The Panthers went 2-4 on their recent six-game road trip, which ended yesterday evening with a 6-3 loss to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Season Series: The Pens and Panthers have needed extra time to decide both games so far this season. Bryan Rust scored in overtime of a Dec. 3 win in Pittsburgh, while Tristan Jarry allowed two shootout goals in a Jan. 3 loss at Amerant Bank Arena.

Hidden Stat: Sergei Bobrovsky, who could get the start against the Pens tonight, is one shutout away from the 50th blank sheet of his career. He is looking to become the 33rd goaltender to hit the milestone.

Getting to know the Panthers

Projected lines (from Saturday’s game against the Capitals)

FORWARDS

Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Jonah Gadjovich

DEFENSEMEN

Gustav Forsling – Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola – Tobias Bjornfot

Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt

Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky (Vitek Vanecek started last night against the Capitals)

Scratches: Brad Marchand, Aaron Eklbad, Dmitry Kulikov

LTIR: Matthew Tkachuk

• Former Penguin Evan Rodrigues is playing on Sam Bennett’s wing on the second line to help fill in for Matthew Tkachuk, who was injured during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
• Placing Tkachuk on LTIR allowed the Panthers to acquire Brad Marchand, who has not played since suffering an injury on a hit from P.O. Joseph in his last game with the Boston Bruins earlier this month.
• The Panthers are also missing Aaron Ekblad, who is serving a 20-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy, and Dmitry Kulikov, who is week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury during last Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders.
• Vitek Vanecek started against his former club last night and allowed six goals on 31 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky seems likely to get the nod from Panthers head coach Paul Maurice tonight.

Player stats

(via hockeydb, does not include last night’s game)

• Florida parted ways with Spencer Knight, who has since become the Chicago Blackhawks’ starting goaltender, at the trade deadline. Vanecek played his third game as backup to Bobrovsky on Saturday.
• The Panthers’ injuries, as well as the loss of Ekblad, are hobbling the defending Stanley Cup champions in the tight race with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Some cracks started to show as the Cats’ defense struggled during Saturday’s loss to the Capitals. If the Panthers can bring back Tkachuk and add Marchand, however, this roster will look more like a contender come the postseason.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines (from Saturday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Connor Dewar - Evgeni Malkin - Philip Tomasino

Joona Koppanen - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

Boko Imama - Kevin Hayes - Danton Heinen

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Erik Karlsson / Conor Timmins

Ryan Graves / Vladislav Kolyachonok

Goalies: Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea (upper body injury), Tommy Novak (lower body), Emil Bemstrom (undisclosed)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper body)

• The Penguins gave Conor Timmins a shot at more ice time by pairing him with Kris Letang against the Columbus Blue Jackets. At Saturday’s practice, the Pens placed him on Erik Karlsson’s pairing and put right-handed Karlsson on the left.

Karlsson told DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Taylor Haase about the switch: “I mean, I’ve played 16 years in this league, so I’ve played on the left side a lot but predominantly not. There’s some quirks to it. But I think the more you do it, the more you get used to it. So it’s nice to have some experience with it. But it’s obviously not ideal, and that’s why not a lot of people do it predominantly.”

• Sidney Crosby is riding a six-game point streak into tonight’s game. He’s put up six goals and four assists for 10 points over the stretch.

Another Crosby note: the captain needs four more points on this season to ensure he hits the point-per-game mark. That would make him the first player in NHL history with 20 such campaigns, per Penguins PR.