The Florida Panthers (44-17-4) will play their final road game against a Western Conference foe this season when they take on the Dallas Stars (40-17-9) tonight at American Airlines Center. Florida is 17-3 over its last 20 games and hammered the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Saturday to split a two-game homestand. Deadline week acquisition Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and added an assist in his second outing with the Panthers. Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Kevin Stenlund also scored and backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 34 saves to earn his career-high 13th win.
The Stars are coming into tonight’s tilt, which opens a five-game homestand, enjoying a hot spell, having won a season-high five-straight games to maintain its hold on the top spot in the Central Division. Radek Faksa and Jason Robertson scored 18 seconds apart in the second period to spark Dallas to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, as the Stars completed a three-game swing through California with a perfect record. The aforementioned Robertson leads the club in assists (43) and points (65).
- WHEN: 8:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Southwest
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #TexasHockey, #FLAvsDAL, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Defending Big D
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (1-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 5, DAL 4 – (Recap) 12/6/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup Final or 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (31-12-2 .918 / 2.29 4SO) Dallas: Oettinger (25-11-4 .900 / 2.95 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Dallas
Tuesday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- DETROIT (33-25-6 72P) at BUFFALO (30-30-5 65P) 7 p.m.
- Columbus (22-32-10 54P) at MONTREAL (24-30-10 58P) 7 p.m.
- Pittsburgh (28-27-8 64P) at OTTAWA (25-33-4 54P) 7 p.m.
Idle: BOS (91P), TOR (82P), TBL (74P)