PITTSBURGH – The Florida Panthers will look for a quick bounce back when they return to PPG Paints Arena for a rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
Giving up six goals in the second period after an even first, the Panthers (37-36-3) suffered a tough 9-4 loss to the Penguins (39-22-16) in the first half of the back-to-back on Saturday.
With the loss, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
“We’ll look to clean some things up,” forward Cole Schwindt said of turning the page after the loss. “It’s nice we get to put this one behind us and get right back at ‘em tomorrow.”
Extending his career-long streak, Mackie Samoskevich lit the lamp for the fourth straight game in the loss to the Penguins, giving him two straight seasons with at least 10 goals.
Noah Gregor, Seth Jones and A.J. Greer also scored.
Entering the game midway through the second period in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky, Daniil Tarasov stopped nine of 12 shots that came his way. After getting that warm-up, Tarasov will now head back to the crease this afternoon and get the start against the Penguins.
In 28 appearances this season, Tarasov has gone 10-14-2 with a .895 save percentage.
“Afternoon games are tough for goalies more than anybody else due to their routines,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “He got a little bit of action [yesterday]. He’s got to play some games. Get a little stress on him and let him play back-to-back even if they don’t go his way so he can start to build that ability to fight out of them.”
In terms of other lineup changes, Dmitry Kulikov will return to the blue line after breaking his nose in a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. With Kulikov coming back in, rookie defenseman Mikulas Hovorka will come out after getting another taste of the NHL.
Up front, the Panthers will also make a change on their fourth line. Nolan Foote and Vinnie Hinostroza will get back into action, with Cole Reinhardt and Luke Kunin coming out.
“He’s back in,” Maurice said of Kulikov, a veteran of 1,035 games in the NHL. “He’s been fighting me for two days. The rule was that you had to be able to breathe before you play, but after last night’s performance we’re taking all heartbeats.”
Across the ice, the Penguins are riding high after their goal-scoring explosion.
In the win over the Panthers, seven different skaters found the back of the net, with Evgeni Malkin leading the way with his 14th career hat trick. Joining some elite company with his first goal of the game, Malkin became the 23rd player in NHL history to reach 1,400 points.
After backing up Arturs Silovs on Saturday, Stuart Skinner could be between the pipes against the Panthers today.
In 47 appearances this season, Skinner, who was the man in net for the Edmonton Oilers during both of their losses to the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025, owns a 22-16-9 record with a .888 save percentage.
At the time of this writing, Pittsburgh has yet to announce a starter.
Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins in scoring this season with 69 points (28G, 41A), while Erik Karlsson ranks second and paces the team’s defensemen with 64 points (14G, 50A). Finding the back of the net on Saturday, Anthony Mantha has scored a team-high 31 goals.
Spreading out their offense, 11 different Penguins have notched at least 14 goals.
“I didn’t think we got enough pucks stopped in our end of the ice,” Maurice said of Saturday’s loss. “At both lines, we did some silly things with the puck that caused us a world of hurt. All of that has to be mitigated by skating and moving our feet.”
THEY SAID IT
“We had a good first [period] in the sense that we left it tied. Obviously, we’ve got to clean some things up in the second. They kind of took it to us a little bit there.” – Cole Schwindt on Saturday’s loss to the Penguins
“They’re one of the best teams in the league at second and third chances, getting bodies there (to the net). We didn’t do a good job boxing out around our goalies.” – Seth Jones on Saturday’s loss to the Penguins
FIVE CATS STATS
- A.J. Greer has earned at least one point in five of his last six games.
- The Panthers rank second in the NHL with 1,875 hits.
- Seth Jones and Mackie Samoskevich lead Florida with three points each against Pittsburgh this season.
- The Panthers rank 10th in the NHL on the penalty kill at 81.1%.
- Sam Bennett has recorded a career-high 58 points (26G, 32A) this season.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Mackie Samoskevich – Eetu Luostarinen – A.J. Greer
Noah Gregor – Tomas Nosek – Jesper Boqvist
Nolan Foote – Cole Schwindt – Vinnie Hinostroza
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Mike Benning
Donovan Sebrango – Tobias Bjornfot
Goaltenders
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- April 1: D Tobias Bjornfot and D Mikulas Hovorka recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- March 24: F Noah Gregor recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Sunday, April 5 at 3 p.m. ET
Where: PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA
TV & Streaming: WSFL, WHDT, WFTX, PanthersPlus.TV
Radio: 104.3 WQAM-FM/560 WQAM-AM (Dade/Broward); 106.3 WESP-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH-FM (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR-FM (Treasure Coast); Panthers GameDay App; SiriusXM App & Streaming 931
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