Pittsburgh @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 5, 2020 ) Florida 4, Pittsburgh 1

The Florida Panthers are expecting to have captain Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup after a three-game absence when they try to rebound from a humbling loss Saturday night against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. The Panthers gave up four unanswered goals in the third period of a 7-2 setback against Vegas at home Thursday and will welcome the return of Barkov, who 16 goals and 54 points.

“The game was there, and then after the fourth goal, we stopped playing,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after Thursday’s defeat dropped his team to 1-1-1 without Barkov, who has 399 career points. “We were outworked, outhustled, and outcompeted, whatever term you want to use.” The Panthers have earned at least a point in four straight games (3-0-1) against the Penguins after winning 4-2 at home Oct. 22 and 4-1 at Pittsburgh on Jan. 5. The Penguins hold down second place in the Metropolitan Division and must recover from their third loss in 11 games after falling 4-2 at red-hot Tampa Bay on Thursday - coming up empty on a long 5-on-3 chance in the third period when down a goal. “I think we get a little bit stagnant,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan told reporters of the power play, which is 2-for-18 in the past five games. “If you’d ask me if there’s one thing I think we can get better at, it’s just creating a little more movement, a little bit more deception.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, FS Florida

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (33-15-5): Center Evgeni Malkin scored once off his leg and set up another goal to give him six of his team-leading 56 points in the last three contests - 11 more than linemate Bryan Rust. Captain Sidney Crosby boasts four goals and eight assists in eight games since returning from a two-month absence because of sports hernia surgery, but finished with a minus-3 rating and one shot on net in Thursday’s setback. Matt Murray (16-7-4, .900 save percentage) lost for the first time in seven starts Thursday while All-Star Tristan Jarry (17-8-1, .928) has dropped two of his past three decisions.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (29-18-6): Barkov, who had three goals and six assists in seven games before going down with the injury, is second on the team behind left wing Jonathan Huberdeau (68 points). Left wing Mike Hoffman became the second Florida player to reach 20 goals Thursday and has collected 16 of his 43 points in the past 14 contests while right wing Evgenii Dadonov tops the team in goals (23). Right wing Brett Connolly (16 goals), who failed on a penalty shot Thursday, has not made the scoresheet in the last eight games and is suffering through an 11-game goal drought.

OVERTIME

1. Pittsburgh D John Marino, who took a deflected shot off his cheek Thursday, is expected to be ready for Saturday’s game.

2. Florida D MacKenzie Weegar missed the Vegas game because of illness and veteran C Brian Boyle (upper body) sat out the past three.

3. Penguins F Dominik Kahun (10 goals, 27 points) has missed the past four games with a concussion, but has been skating on his own.

PREDICTION: Penguins 4, Panthers 3