The Pittsburgh Penguins face the Florida Panthers with both teams looking to improve in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins have a 17-8-4 record and with a six-game winning streak have leaped to the top of the Metropolitan Division. The Panthers have a 14-12-4 record and are in the middle of the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to improve in their divisions and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Penguins have turned their season around behind a dominant offense that is scoring 3.48 goals per game including 23 goals in the last six games. Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Evgeni Malkin have scored 39 goals and 57 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has been great. Jason Zucker, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust have combined for 25 goals and 32 assists while Jeff Carter, Brock McGinn, and Kasperi Kapanen have added 17 goals and 21 assists to the backend of the forward unit to give the Penguins multiple potent forward lines.
The offense has been dominant but the defense has also stepped up, allowing only 2.90 goals per game. Jan Rutta and Marcus Pettersson have combined for 3.4 defensive point shares and 93 blocked shots while Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Brian Dumoulin have combined for 2.6 defensive point shares to give the Penguins two great defensive pairings. In a ddition, goaltender Tristan Jarry has been great in the net with a .920 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average on 641 shots.