PENGUINS (17-17-5) at PANTHERS (23-14-2)
7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SNO, SNE, SN360
Penguins projected lineup
Rickard Rakell -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting -- Evgeni Malkin -- Cody Glass
Drew O’Connor -- Kevin Hayes -- Philip Tomasino
Matt Nieto -- Blake Lizotte -- Noel Acciari
P.O Joseph -- Marcus Pettersson
Matt Grzelcyk -- Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves -- Owen Pickering
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
Scratched: Anthony Beauvillier, Ryan Shea, Jesse Puljujarvi
Injured: Kris Letang (upper body)
Panthers projected lineup
Evan Rodrigues -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe -- Anton Lundell -- Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer -- Tomas Nosek -- Mackie Samoskevich
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov -- Adam Boqvist
Uvis Balinskis -- Nate Schmidt
Spencer Knight
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: None
Injured: Niko Mikkola (upper body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
Status report
Pickering appears ready to return after missing four games with a concussion. … Letang, a defenseman, is day to day and will miss his third straight game. ... The Penguins re-assigned Nathan Clurman, a defenseman, to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. … The Panthers did not hold a morning skate Friday following a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. … Mikkola, a defenseman, is expected to miss his fourth straight game; he could return at the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
