- WHO: Florida Panthers (5GP 3-2 6P) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (5GP 2-3 4P)
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET – LBC GameThread right here at 6:30ish
- WHERE: Consol Energy Center – Pittsburgh, PA
- ON THE TUBE: Fox Sports Florida, ROOT
- ON THE RADIO: 560 WQAM, 640 WMEN, 107.9 WAXE, 760 ESPN (Spanish),1210 ESPN (Spanish), 97.7 The Wave
- ENEMY INTEL: Pensburgh; 3 Questions w/LBC, w/PB
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 3 (0-0)
- ALL-TIME vs PIT: 35W-34L-4T 5OTL 4SOL 231GF 234GA
- ALL-TIME in PIT: 13W-18L-3T 3OTL 4SOL 109GF 125GA
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Luongo (2-2 .948/1.77 0SO), Fleury (2-3 .937/1.83 1SO)
- JAGR WATCH: All-time vs PIT: 51GP 24G-22A 46P 4GW
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Pittsburgh
- TWITTER TAGS: #FlaPanthers, #Pens, #FLAvsPIT, & give us a follow @LitterBoxCats and our (newly revitalized!) FaceBook page
- NOTES: Jaromir Jagr tops Florida’s scoresheet with 7 points (4G) in 5 games, followed closely by Sasha Barkov (6P, 3G) and the trio of Brandon Pirri (1G), Reilly Smith (2G) & Vincent Trocheck (1G) at 4 points each. On defense things tighten up a bit as Aaron Ekblad and Brian Campbell pace the blueline with 2 assists apiece. D Dmitry Kulikov has been absent on the box scores short of a single assist, but is making it apparent to anyone willing to watch that he’s grown mentally and physically over the summer. Roberto Luongo is 14-9-3 lifetime vs PIT with 4 shutouts; Al Montoya’s career record of 1-4-1 (4.40/.877!) is cute but we’re guessing Gerard Gallant goes with Lou. At the other end, Pittsburgh’s options in net are Marc-Andre Fleury (13-8-1 1SO vs FLA) and Jeff Zatkoff (1-1 3.51 ditto). The Pens don’t play until Thursday when they host Dallas (Florida’s upcoming opponent Saturday), so no reason to believe anyone other than MAF gets the start tonight. As for everyone north of the net in PIT? Yeah, not going there.
Last game for the Cats: 4-2 loss over visiting Stars Saturday in Sunrise. Past five: 2-2-1 16GF 9GA (streak: 2L)
Last game for the Pens: 2-1 (reg) victory over the Leafs in Pittsburgh Saturday. Past five: 2-3 7GF 9GA (streak: 2W)
*
NHL.com Preview:
Pittsburgh has won two straight after starting off the season with three losses. Defensemen Kris Letang and Ian Cole have been the shutdown pair for the Penguins; Cole is second in the NHL in blocked shots (18) and Letang is second in ice time per game (27:33).
More here on both teams. See? Still not mentioning the Pens’ offense on this page. Not gonna do it.
*
Saturday in the Atlantic Division (Standings / NEW! Panthers Playoff Chances):
- St. Louis (5-1 10P) at MONTREAL (6-0 12P), 7:30
- TAMPA BAY (4-2 8P) at Nashville (4-1 8P), 8:00
- Idle: OTT (7P), DET (6P), BOS (4P), TOR (3P), BUF (2P)/
*
Panthers, SoFla Media & Loyal Opposition on the Tweets
*