The Florida Panthers (16-8-2) will open a season-long five game road trip when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets (9-15-5) this afternoon at Nationwide Arena. Florida closed out its three-game homestand with hard-fought back-to-back wins over the Dallas Stars and Pittburgh Penguins to maintain its hold on second place in the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Eetu Luostarinen and Aleksander Barkov supplied the goals in Friday’s 3-1 win over the Penguins.
While Columbus is currently the worst team in the Eastern Conference, they are coming off an impressive 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on home ice on Friday. Making his season debut, and just his second NHL appearance, 22-year-old rookie goaltender Jet Greaves made 41 to collect his first victory in the league and help his team put an end to a three-game (0-2-1) losing streak. Defenseman Zach Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in assists (19) and points (20) while Boone Jenner’s 13 goals tops the Columbus crew.
- WHEN: 1:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Nationwide Arena – Columbus, OH
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Ohio, NHL Network
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #CBJ, #FLAvsCBJ, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: The Cannon
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (1-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 5, CBJ 4 (OT) – (Recap) 11/6/2023
- NEXT MEETING: April 11, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (3-2-1 .917 / 2.34 0SO) / Columbus: Greaves (1-0-0 .953 / 2.00 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Columbus
Sunday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Nashville (14-13-0 28P) at MONTREAL (12-12-3 27 P) 7 p.m.
Idle: BOS (39P), TOR (32P), DET (32P), TBL (31P), BUF (25P), OTT (22P)