The Florida Panthers (30-14-4) will conclude the pre-All-Star break portion of its schedule when they take on the New York Islanders (20-17-11) this evening at UBS Arena. After dropping four straight games, the Cats have rebounded to post consecutive wins over the Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes and Pittsburgh Penguins. In last night’s 3-2 win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, Sam Reinhart extended his career-high point streak to 12 games with a second period power-play goal and then secured the extra point with the deciding goal in the bottom of the third round of the shootout.
The Islanders are 1-2 since replacing Lane Lambert with new head coach Patrick Roy following a winless four-game road trip. Roy’s debut produced a 3-2 overtime win over the Dallas Stars on home ice, but the struggling New Yorkers followed that result up with one-goal losses to the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens. Defenseman Noah Dobson leads the team in scoring with 51 points, with Mat Barzal, who is on the way to a career year, one point behind.
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSGSN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Isles, #FLAvsNYI, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Belmont Skates
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: NYI 4, @FLA 3 – (Recap) 12/2/2023
- NEXT MEETING: March 28, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (7-4-2 .929 / 2.12 0SO) New York: Varlamov (6-5-2 .914 / 2.87 2SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / New York
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- BOSTON 6, Philadelphia 2
- BUFFALO 5, San Jose 2
- New York Rangers (29-16-3 61P) at OTTAWA (18-24-2 38P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- MONTREAL (20-21-7 47P) at Pittsburgh (21-17-7 49P) 7 p.m.
- New Jersey (24-19-3 51P) at TAMPA BAY (26-18-5 57P) 7 p.m.
- TORONTO (24-18-8 56P) at Winnipeg (30-11-5 65P) 7 p.m.
- Vegas (29-14-6 64P) at DETROIT (25-18-5 55P) at 8 p.m.