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Gameday 55: Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals

Graphic design: Francisco Oporta

It’s litmus test time as the Florida Panthers (32-19-3) will pay a visit to Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals (34-11-7) tonight at Capital One Arena.

After being mired in a funk for most of January, the Panthers dazzled during a just completed three-game homestand by blanking the Los Angeles Kings 3-0; dominating the Chicago Blackhawks by a 5-1 count; and doubling up the New York islanders 6-3 to end their seven-game winning streak. Carter Verhaeghe notched his fourth career hat trick and added an assist and Spencer Knight made 31 saves to power Florida to its 32nd win of the season.

The Capitals had won six in a row before dropping three of its last four games. There isn’t much to be alarmed about here, as all three of the losses were of the one-goal variety, and Washington earned points in its last two games, overtime defeats to red-hot Ottawa and league-leading Winnipeg. One slight cause for concern is that the Capitals gave up five goals to both the Senators and Jets. Alex Ovechkin is 18 goals away from toppling Wayne Gretzky’s record after scoring his 877th in the 5-4 home ice loss to Winnipeg.

  • WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
  • WHERE: Capital One Arena – Sunrise, FL
  • ON THE TUBE: Scripps, Monumental Sports Network
  • ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
  • SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #ALLCAPS, #FLAvsWSH, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
  • ENEMY INTEL: Japers’ Rink
  • FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 3 (0-1)
  • LAST MEETING: WSH 4, @FLA 1 (Recap) – 11/25/2024
  • NEXT MEETING: March 22, 2025
  • PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (22-11-2 .902 / 2.67 2SO) Washington: Thompson (23-2-4 .924 / 2.15 2SO)
  • PLAYER STATS: Florida / Washington

Tuesday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

  • Minnesota (31-18-4 66P) at BOSTON (26-22-6 58P) 7 p.m.
  • Columbus (26-20-7 59P) at BUFFALO (21-26-5 47P) 7 p.m.
  • OTTAWA (29-20-4 62P) at TAMPA BAY (27-20-4 58P) 7 p.m.
  • TORONTO (31-19-2 64P) at Calgary (26-19-7 59P) 9 p.m.
  • DETROIT (27-21-5 59P) at Seattle (23-28-3 49P) 10 p.m.
  • MONTREAL (24-23-5 53P) at San Jose (15-33-6 36P) 10:30 p.m.

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