Florida: 1-0-0 (2PTS)
Pittsburgh Penguins: 2-0-1 (5PTS)
Season Series: 0-0-0
The Panthers play their second home opener of four tonight against the league-leading Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens will once again be missing center Evgeni Malkin, who left their second game of the season with an unspecified lower body injury that is apparently unrelated to the knee he had worked on last season. The Penguins are not much less of a threat without their usual two leading scorers. They made it to a second round game 7 of the playoffs last year without Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby and won 5-3 against the Flames on Saturday night before losing to the Oilers in a shootout on Sunday night. The Panthers have the Penguins travel schedule going for them. The Cats played Saturday night on Long Island, then had a quick trip to Pittsburgh, while the Pens flew overnight from Edmonton Sunday, arriving early Monday morning. The Penguins have been to two shootouts in three games. Tonight’s game is the lone nationally televised game for the Panthers on US television, so thank you to the Pens for hosting the Cats for their home opener.
More from our Pittsburgh Penguins cohorts at PensBurgh.
Panthers vs Penguins coverage coverage at SB Nation.
TSN preview.
Litter Box Cats game thread will open 30 minutes before game time.
News and Notes
Last meeting
The Panthers lost their fourth game against the Penguins in early April. Zybnek Michalek scored the winning shootout goal and backup Brent “One-Punch” Johnson got the win.
Last Game
The Panthers won their season opener 2-0 on Long Island. Stephen Weiss scored the opening goal and eventual game winner. Jose Theodore got his sixth shutout against the Islanders and 31st for his career in the win. The Panthers won their season opener on the road for only the third time.
Lineup
Injuries
- G Scott Clemmensen (knee), 9/26, 3-8 weeks
- F Mike Santorelli (shoulder), 9/27, 2 weeks
Healthy Scratches
- D Keaton Ellerby
- F Evgeny Dadonov
Starting goaltenders
The Panthers will once again start Jose Theodore, while the Penguins will almost certainly start Marc-Andre Fleury in their home opener.
Lines (from last game)
Forwards
- Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg
- Booth-Kopecky-Upshall
- Bergenheim-Goc-Skille
- Bradley-Matthias-Carter
Defense
- Campbell-Garrison
- Jovanovski-Gudbranson
- Kulikov-Weaver