Panthers (12-4-2 26P) at Stars (6-4-4 16P)
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: FOX Sports Florida, FOX Sports Southwest+
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 640 WMEN (PB), 1370 WAXE (TC), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #FlaPanthers, #GoStars, #DALvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Defending Big D
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 8 (1-1-0)
- LAST MEETING: DAL 3, @FLA 0- 2/24/2021
- NEXT MEETING: March 27, 2021
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Bobrovsky (5-2-1 .889/ 3.18 0SO) vs Oettinger (2-0-3 .910/ 2.31 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Dallas/
Wednesday Recap
After amassing 52 shots on goal on Tuesday, the Florida Panthers put another 43 shots on goaltender Anton Khudobin, but they couldn’t solve the stingy veteran this time around and fell to the Dallas Stars by a 3-0 count at the BB&T Center.
John Klingberg scored 53 seconds into the tilt and Esa Lindell and Joel Kviranta (ENG) tacked on third period goals as the Stars ended a six-game winless streak and handed the Panthers its fourth loss in regulation, and first shutout, this season.
Chris Driedger made 23 saves in his fifth start in six games for the Cats.
Keith Yandle played his 884th consecutive game, tying Steve Larmer for the third-longest streak in NHL history. Doug Jarvis is first at 964, followed by Garry Unger at 914. Yandle’s streak began back on March 26, 2009.
Aleksander Barkov and Patric Honqvist led Florida with five shots each and Radko Gudas dished out a game-high eight hit.
The Panthers have suddenly gone cold in the scoring department. Florida has only put the puck past a goalie three times in the last three games, and tallied one empty-netter, despite racking up its top three shot totals (39, 52, 43 – 134 combined) of the season. It might be time to shake up the lines or perhaps the Cats simply need to look for more quality and less quantity.
The two teams will meet again tonight in what should be a battle of the backups with two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky facing rookie Jake Oettinger.
Thursday in the Central (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances):
- CAROLINA (12-5-1 25P) at TAMPA BAY (12-4-1 25P) 7 p.m. ESPN+
- CHICAGO (10-6-4 24P) at COLUMBUS (8-7-5 21P) 7 p.m.
- NASHVILLE (8-10-0 16P) at DETROIT (5-13-3 13P) 7:30 p.m. NHL Network/
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