Panthers at Penguins projected lineups

PANTHERS (5-3-2) at PENGUINS (3-6-1)

7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, SCRIPPS, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS

Panthers projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Reinhart -- Lars Eller

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Sandis Vilmanis

Bokondji Imama -- Cole Schwindt -- Garnet Hathaway

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola -- Seth Jones

Dmitry Kulikov -- Radko Gudas

Cooper Black

Akira Schmid

*Scratched: Uvis Balinskis, Cole Reinhardt*

*Injured: Jacob Markstrom (upper body), Aleksander Barkov (knee), Brad Marchand (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (neck)*

Penguins projected lineup

Tommy Novak -- Sidney Crosby -- Rickard Rakell

Ville Koivunen -- Hendrix Lapierre -- Evgeni Malkin

Andrei Kuzmenko -- Blake Lizotte -- Egor Chinakhov

Elmer Soderblom -- Connor Dewar -- Nick Robertson

Spencer Stastney -- Erik Karlsson

Declan Carlile -- Kaedan Korczak

Ilya Solovyov -- Kris Letang

Arturs Silovs

Sergei Murashov

*Scratched: Rutger McGroarty, Chase Pietila*

*Injured: Justin Brazeau (lower body), Ryan Graves (knee), Trevor van Riemsdyk (lower body), Ben Kindel (vasovagal episode), Bryan Rust (lower body), Samuel Girard (lower body)*

Status report

Black likely will start and make his NHL debut after Schmid made 25 saves in a 5-1 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. ... Kindel will not play after experiencing a vasovagal episode, a temporary loss of consciousness due to a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure, shortly after the Penguins team plane departed Salt Lake City International Airport on Tuesday. The forward could return to practice as soon as next week, general manager Kyle Dubas said. ... Rust will be reevaluated in six weeks after the forward was injured during a 5-4 loss at the Utah Mammoth on Monday. ... McGroarty, a forward, and Pietila, a defenseman, each was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Thursday.