The Florida Panthers (34-27-7) will face the New Jersey Devils (44-17-7) for the final time this season tonight at FLA LIve Arena. This will also be the final tilt of Florida’s seven-game homestand, which has seen them go 4-1-1 thus far, including Thursday night’s goal-filled 9-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. That win moved the Panthers within three points of the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, who currently hold the wild cards in the Eastern Conference. In a scheduling quirk, the Devils played the Tampa Bay Lightning twice in a row in Newark and lost both games, although they did earn a point before falling 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday. Florida and New Jersey split the first two games of the season series, with both winning by 4-2 counts on the road.
- WHEN: 6:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: FLA Live Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSGSN
- ON THE DIAL: 96.5 WPOW-FM HD-2 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #NJDevils, #NJDvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: All About The Jersey
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (1-1-0)
- LAST MEETING: NJD 4, @FLA 2 (Recap) – 12/21/2022
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2023-24 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Sergei Bobrovsky (22-17-3 .903/3.03 1SO) vs Akira Schmid (8-4-2 .924/1.98 1SO) or Vitek Vanecek (28-8-3 .908/2.52 3SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / New Jersey/
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances):
- Colorado (39-22-6 84P) AT DETROIT (30-28-9 69P) 1 p.m. (NHL Network)
- BOSTON (51-11-5 107P) at Minnesota (39-21-8 86P) 2 p.m.
- MONTREAL (211-36-6 60P) at TAMPA BAY (41-22-6 88P) 7 p.m.
- TORONTO (41-18-9 91P) at OTTAWA (33-31-4 70P) 7 p.m./
Idle: BUF (72P)
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