The Penguins make a brief road trip to Sunrise, Florida tonight to play the two-time defending champion Panthers before returning home to Pittsburgh for two games, against the Blue Jackets on Saturday and the Blues on Monday.
The Panthers have lost four straight games before beating Boston, 4-3 on Tuesday. The Penguins are hot, with three straight wins, including a 5-1 win over Vancouver on Tuesday.
One of the keys for the Penguins has been a lockdown third period defensive effort. They’ve allowed only goals in the third period all season long, two of them in one game.
Coach Dan Muse has come up with some effective blue line pairings, like veteran newcomer Parker Wotherspoon and Erik Karlsson. He says he saw in training camp that they communicated well when they were together on the ice.
Ryan Shea has been paired with Kris Letang and Caleb Jones has been skating with rookie Harrison Brunicke.
At only 19 years of age, Brunicke has never even been to Florida. But tonight he has to face a two-time defending Stanley Cup-winning team. He’s looking forward to the challenge.
Faceoff tonight is shortly after seven o’clock. The pregame begins at six on 92.5 FM U-92.
Penguins President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas said last night that forward Rutger McGroarty, who suffered an upper body injury in the summer and has not since, has resumed skating. When he’s ready to play, he will begin his season at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
