The Florida Panthers (10-4-1) are in La La Land to face the Los Angeles Kings (8-3-3) at Crypto.com Arena in the second game of a three-game road trip. After scoring three unanswered goals in the third to knock off the lowly San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, the Panthers have won five in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last ten games. Leading scorer Sam Reinhart has produced five-straight multipoint games; Matthew Tkachuk has points in seven consecutive games; and tonight’s keeper Sergei Bobrovsky has won his last five starts.
The rested Kings, who have been off since Saturday, will be playing the third game of a four-game homestand that has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. Los Angeles was nipped 4-3 in overtime by the Pittsburgh Penguins last Thusday and then beaten 4-2 by the Philadelphia Flyers in their last outing. Leading scorer Adrian Kempe (16 points), Trevor Moore and Anze Kopitar lead the team in goals with seven apiece. Kopitar and Kevin Fiala are averaging a point a game. The Cats should see veteran number one Cam Talbot in net tonight.
- WHEN: 10:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports West
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoKingsGo, #FLAvsLAK, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Jewels From The Crown
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: LAK 4, @FLA 3 – (Recap) 1/27/2023
- NEXT MEETING: January 11, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (8-3-1 .905 / 2.68 0SO) / Los Angeles: Talbot (7-3-1 .923 / 2.21 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Los Angeles
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- DETROIT (8-5-2 18P) at OTTAWA (6-7-0 12P) 2 p.m. (NHL Network)
- Vegas (12-3-1 25P) at MONTREAL (7-7-2 16P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (6-6-4 16P) at Chicago (5-8-0 10P) 8 p.m. (ESPN+, Hulu)
Idle: BOS (26P), TOR (18P), BUF (15P)