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The Pittsburgh Penguins head to Benchmark International Arena on Thursday night for a 7:00 PM matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and this one feels like a real measuring-stick game for both sides. Pittsburgh comes in at 38-21-16 after winning two straight and three of its last four, while Tampa Bay sits at 46-22-6 and is trying to rebound after a 4-1 home loss to Montreal snapped an eight-game point streak. ESPN+ has the broadcast, and the market is making the Lightning a clear home favorite. There is a lot going on under the surface here. The Penguins have been one of the hotter offensive teams in the East lately, dropping 13 goals across their last two wins over the

The Boston Bruins open a four-game road trip Thursday night when they visit the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena for a 7:00 PM start on ESPN+. Boston comes in at 43-24-8, fourth in the Atlantic and holding the top wild-card spot in the East, while Florida is 36-35-3 and sitting near the bottom of the conference with almost no room left to breathe. That setup makes the side interesting. Boston has won four straight and has points in nine of its last 10, so the Bruins are bringing the better full-season profile and the better current form. Florida did just hammer Ottawa 6-3 after losing six of its previous nine, so this is not exactly a dead team walking

This is one of the more urgent games on Thursday’s NHL board. Detroit heads into Xfinity Mobile Arena for a 7:00 PM matchup on NBCS with a 39-27-8 record, while Philadelphia is 37-25-12, and both clubs sit on 86 points in a crowded Eastern wild-card race. They are chasing the same ground, and with only a handful of games left, this is the kind of spot where one result can swing the standings in a real way. The recent form is not quite the same, though. Detroit has lost four of its last five and just got handled 5-1 by Pittsburgh on Tuesday, while Philadelphia had won six of seven before falling 6-4 at Washington. That difference matters because the

The San Antonio Spurs head to the Intuit Dome on Thursday, April 2, for a 10:30 PM start against the Los Angeles Clippers in one of the more important Western Conference games on the board. FDSS has the broadcast. San Antonio comes in at 57-18, second in the West, and it has been rolling with a nine-game winning streak. The Clippers are 39-37, sitting eighth in the conference, and they are trying to stabilize their playoff spot after a 114-104 loss to Portland. This spot matters for both sides, though in different ways. The Spurs are still playing like a team that expects to make noise deep into the postseason, while the Clippers are trying to avoid slipping any lower