The Florida Panthers (15-12-2) will continue its tough four-game roadie when they pay a visit to the league-leading Colorado Avalanche (21-2-7) tonight at Denver’s Ball Arena.
Latter game saint Anton Lundell lit the lamp with 52 seconds left in regulation to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 win over the Utah Mammoth last night at Delta Center, getting the trip off to a positive start. Sam Bennett scored twice and added an assist and linemate Carter Verhaeghe contributed a goal and an assist to extend his personal point streak to seven games. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 of 30 shots and made 11 high-danger saves as the Panthers remained undefeated (3-0) against the NHL’s newest franchise.
After suffering just its second defeat in regulation (6-3 to the New York Islanders) a week ago, the Avalanche went right back to hoovering up points by posting one-goal decisions over the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers this past weekend before they were edged 4-3 in a shootout by the Nashville Predators to finish off a four-game road trip on Tuesday. Cale Makar scored his tenth of the season with eight seconds remaining in regulation to secure Colorado’s 49th point. Nathan MacKinnon leads the league in goals (24) and points (51) while Makar is the NHL’s highest-scoring defenseman with 36 points. The Avalanche is a stellar 11-0-2 on home ice.
- WHEN: 9:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Ball Arena – Denver, CO
- ON THE TUBE: ESPN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoAvsGo, #FLAvsCOL, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Mile High Hockey
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: @COL 3, FLA 1 (Recap) – 1/6/2025
- NEXT MEETING: January 4, 2026
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Tarasov (3-4-1 .911 / 2.47 0SO) Colorado: Blackwood (8-1-1 .920 / 2.21 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Colorado
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- San Jose (14-14-3 31P) at TORONTO (14-11-4 32P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (17-11-2 36P) at New Jersey (17-12-1 35P) 7 p.m.
- MONTREAL (15-11-3 33P) at Pittsburgh (14-7-7 35P) 7 p.m.
- OTTAWA (13-12-4 30P) at Columbus (13-11-6 32P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (18-13-0 36P) at Winnipeg (14-14-1 29P) 8 p.m.
- DETROIT (17-11-3 37P) at Edmonton (13-11-6 32P) 9 p.m.
- BUFFALO (12-14-4 28P) at Vancouver (11-16-3 25P) 10 p.m.