The Florida Panthers (42-16-4) will be gunning to become the first team in the league to hit 90 points when they face the New Jersey Devils (30-27-4) tonight at Prudential Center to finish off a three-game road trip. Florida is 15-2 in its last seventeen games and riding a five-game winning streak after beating the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden. Sam Reinhart scored twice and Ryan Lomberg’s third period floater snapped a 2-2 tie, sending the Cats to their league-leading 42nd victory.
The Devils are 3-6 over their last nine games and fired head coach Lindy Ruff yesterday in an effort to spark the moribund team into the postseason. Assistant coach Travis Green will take over the reins for the final 21 tilts with his charges needing to make up an eight-point deficit to either catch third place Philadelphia or capture one of the two wild card spots, currently held by Detroit and Tampa Bay. New Jersey boasts four 20-goal men and Jesper Bratt leads the club in scoring with 62 points.
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Prudential Center – Newark, NJ
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSG
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #NJDevils, #NJDvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: The Jersey Score
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 3 (1-1)
- LAST MEETING: NJD 4, @FLA 1 – (Recap) 10/16/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (11-5-2 .924 / 2.02 1SO) / New Jersey: Schmid (5-8-1 .897 / 3.09 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / New Jersey
Tuesday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Edmonton (37-20-2 76P) at BOSTON (36-13-14 86P) 7:30 p.m.
- MONTREAL (23-28-10 56P) at Nashville (35-25-2 72P) 8 p.m.
Idle TOR (78P), DET (72P), TBL (72P), BUF (62P), OTT (53P)