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On the ice
Tonight: Idle
Next up: Columbus at Pittsburgh, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
TV: AT&T SportsNet
From Mirror, wire reports
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves, Sam Bennett scored in his return to the lineup and the Florida Panthers stopped Pittsburgh's four-game win streak with a 4-1 victory against the Penguins on Saturday night.
Bennett missed six games with a lower-body injury. Aleksander Barkov had two assists for Florida after he was sidelined for three games with a hand injury.
Aaron Ekblad, Eetu Luostarinen and Carter Verhaeghe also scored as the Panthers improved to 1-1 on a seven-game homestand.
Kris Letang scored for Pittsburgh, and Casey DeSmith made 38 saves.
The Penguins (31-22-9) lead the Panthers (31-27-6) by three points in the race for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
"I did not think we were good enough,'' Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "We had moments but overall, shift-in and shift-out, we were not good enough. We did not play with enough urgency."
Bennett put Florida on the board with 21.6 seconds remaining in the first period. He scored his 15th of the season on a rebound of a Verhaeghe shot.
At 4:11 of the second, the Panthers made it 2-0 when Ekblad one-timed a cross-ice pass from Barkov on a power play.
The Penguins cut into the deficit with two Florida players in the penalty box at 8:51 of the second. Jake Guentzel found Letang all alone beside the cage.
Florida restored its two-goal lead with 10 seconds left in the second. Luostarinen got his 15th when he cleaned up a rebound from a Barkov shot.
"They played a little bit harder, they played a little bit better, for sure," the Pens' Evgeni Malkin said. "We need to get back home and start the winning streak again. We have a great team. We trade a couple guys, but I think this team can win against any team. It's a tough loss, but if we play better, we win for sure."
Worth noting
Nick Bonino, who left the Penguins in 2017, was back on Saturday wearing his old No. 13 after he was reacquired by Pittsburgh in a trade with San Jose on Friday. Bonino won the Stanley Cup twice with the Penguins.