Pluses, minuses for Panthers-Penguins

NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his thoughts for big games each week throughout the season.

The Florida Panthers look to stay hot when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, TVAS). Florida (33-15-4) has won six of its past seven games and is closing in on the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Pittsburgh (23-19-7) has lost two straight and seven of 10 (3-4-3).

Here's my breakdown of the game:

Panthers

Pluses: We have to start with Sam Reinhart, a forward having a huge season with his 39 goals second in the NHL behind Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (42). His 64 points in 52 games put him on pace for 101 that would top his NHL career high of 82 set with the Panthers in 2021-22 and the pending unrestricted free agent is likely going to get a nice contract in the offseason. Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk (56 points), Carter Verhaeghe (53) and Aleksander Barkov (51) give the Panthers four players with at least 50 points; the only other team in the League that can say that is the Vancouver Canucks ( J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes). They are pretty healthy and have depth at all positions. They can generate offense off the rush, on the power play or off a cycle and they've got some physical players in their group as well.

Minuses: Right now, they have no negatives. The Panthers weren't expected to be this good. They're sixth on the power play (24.9 percent) and the penalty kill (82.7 percent), so they definitely won't be surprising anyone in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.

Penguins

Pluses: The goaltending has been good for the better part of the season. Tristan Jarry leads the NHL with six shutouts. Sidney Crosby continues to be immortal and timeless the way he plays and is keeping them in the fight for a playoff spot. He leads the Penguins with 52 points (28 goals, 24 assists) and he's plus-17, second on the Penguins behind Marcus Pettersson (plus-19). Having Erik Karlsson this season gives them tons of minutes (24:22 average ice time per game) and another option on the power play.

Minuses: We know that they still have pieces, but they just haven't been able to go on a run where they've won nine of 11 or things of that nature. They have won more than two games in a row only twice this season. Clearly, they are going to need one of those runs because of where they are in the standings. For all the players they have, they rank 30th on the power play (13.9 percent). They are in a tough spot where they will have to decide if they want to be buyers or sellers prior to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.