About the Panthers - 11-19-11
A preview of the Panthers.
When and where: 7:30 p.m. BankAtlantic Center.
TV: Root Sports; Fox Sports Florida.
Record: 9-6-3, 21 points. The Panthers are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the Southeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Kris Versteeg, 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists).
Last Game: 4-1 road loss to the Blues, Thursday. Jose Theodore (right) made 27 saves for the Panthers.
Last Game against the Penguins: 4-2 road loss, Oct. 11. Pascal Dupuis had a goal and an assist for the Penguins.
Panthers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Tomas Fleischmann. He has goals in his last two games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Panthers: Matt Bradley, RW; Pete Mahovlich, scout; Mikael Samuelsson, RW; Dale Tallon, general manager.
Ex-Panthers on the Penguins: Tom Fitzgerald, assistant to the general manager; Steve MacIntyre, LW; Randy Sexton, assistant director of amateur scouting.
Useless Panthers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The first game-winning playoff goal in Panthers history was scored by former Penguins defenseman Jason Woolley in a 6-3 win against the Bruins in Game 1 of a 1996 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Best Panthers Video We Could Find: Former Penguins forward Stu Barnes scoring a pretty nifty goal for the Panthers against Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall:
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Probable goaltenders: Brent Johnson (1-2-2, 2.95 GAA, .889 SV%) for the Penguins and Jose Theodore (6-4-2, 2.49 GAA, .920 SV%) for the Panthers.
Injuries: For the Penguins, center Dustin Jeffrey (knee) is out. Center Sidney Crosby (concussion), defensemen Ben Lovejoy (left wrist), Zbynek Michalek (finger) and Brian Strait (elbow) are on injured reserve. For the Panthers, goaltender Scott Clemmensen (undisclosed) and center Marcel Goc ("upper body") are out. Right wingers Matt Bradley ("upper body"), Mikael Samuelsson ("lower body"), left winger Scottie Upshall (hip) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines and defensive pairings in practice yesterday:
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Sidney Crosby - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Matt Cooke - Joe Vitale - Tyler Kennedy
Arron Asham - Richard Park - Craig Adams
Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Deryk Engelland - Paul Martin
Matt Niskanen - Alexandre Picard
-The expected Panthers' lines and defensive pairings:
Tomas Fleischmann - Stephen Weiss - Kris Versteeg
Sean Bergenheim - Tomas Kopecky- Jack Skille
Evgenii Dadonov - Mike Santorelli - Marco Sturm
Shawn Mattias - Tim Kennedy - Michal Repik
Jason Garrison - Brian Campbell
Dmitry Kulikov - Mike Weaver
Ed Jovanovski - Erik Gudbranson.
Notes:
-Jordan Staal is on pace for 42 goals.
-Crosby and Jeffrey are still sidelined.
-Park has 97 career goals.
-Orpik has 96 career points.
-Picard has 46 career assists.
-Letang has 145 career points.
-Asham has 195 career points.
-The Panthers recalled goaltender Jacob Markstrom and right winger Michal Repik from San Antonio of the AHL.
-Weiss has 348 career points.
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(Photo: Dave Sandford/Getty Images)