Florida @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 22, 2019 ) Pittsburgh 2, Florida 4

The Pittsburgh Penguins have used their success on home ice to help hide consistent injury issues this season and look to continue that trend when they host the Florida Panthers on Sunday. The Penguins boast the most victories in the league at home (16), gaining at least a point in five straight (4-0-1) at PPG Paints Arena, and improved to 8-1-1 overall in their past 10 games after a 3-2 overtime victory at Montreal on Saturday.

Red-hot goalie Tristan Jarry, who stayed home in Pittsburgh on Saturday to rest while Matt Murray was backed up by a minor leaguer, is expected to be in net Sunday to try and extend a seven-game point streak (6-0-1). The Panthers have at least one point in four of the last five meetings with the Penguins after Jonathan Huberdeau and captain Aleksander Barkov each posted two points in a 4-2 victory on Oct. 22 in Florida. The Panthers have won six of nine contests overall, but dropped two of three to open a three-game road trip after giving up the first three goals en route to a 3-2 loss at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon despite a 34-18 edge in shots. “It’s the last game of our road trip, which hasn’t gone exactly the way we wanted it to,” Florida defenseman Mike Matheson told reporters after scoring one of the goals Saturday. “The best medicine for that is to get back at it next game and make sure that we bury every chance we get.”

TIME: 5 p.m. ET. TV: NHL Network, FS Florida, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (21-15-5): Huberdeau was kept off the scoresheet Saturday but has still collected 18 of his team-high 55 points in the last nine games while Barkov chipped in an assist to increase his total to 46 points. Right wing Evgenii Dadonov has been on a tear of late with four goals - tying Huberdeau for the team lead (17) - to go along with three assists in his past five contests. Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky continued his recent struggles Saturday by giving up three goals on seven shots before getting pulled and owns an .856 save percentage in his past six appearances.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (25-11-5): Captain Sidney Crosby (hernia) could return this month after a long absence, but Pittsburgh suffered another damaging injury when leading scorer Jake Guentzel was lost for 4-to-6 months with a shoulder injury at the end of December. The Penguins just keep winning with their depth as Brandon Tanev scored the winner in overtime Saturday and fellow forward Teddy Blueger posted a pair of assists. Evgeni Malkin is the leading active scorer (39 points), but fellow forward Bryan Rust has been even more of a factor this season after scoring his 17th goal Saturday in his 27th contest.

OVERTIME

1. The Panthers allowed nine power-play goals in the past eight contests and sit in the bottom third of the league on the penalty kill (78.5 percent).

2. Pittsburgh F Alex Galchenyuk has recorded two goals and two assists in his last five games.

3. Florida C Brian Boyle needs one assist to reach 100 in his career and C Vincent Trocheck is slated to play his 400th NHL contest.

PREDICTION: Panthers 3, Penguins 2