Happy New Year everyone!
The Florida Panthers enter 2018 on a season-high, five-game winning streak. The Cats kick off a five-game road trip tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild before visiting Boston, Detroit, Columbus and St. Louis.
Forward Maxim Mamim has earned his first recall after producing 15 points (6G/9A) in 23 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Today’s Winter Classic (1 p.m. – NBC) pits the New York Rangers against the Buffalo Sabres. With the Panthers trying to run down both the Rangers and Islanders in the wild card chase, let’s all be Sabres fans this afternoon.
The 2018 World Junior Championship takes a pause today before tomorrow’s quarterfinal games. Canada (A1) will face Switzerland (B4), The United States (A2) will take on Russia (B3), Finland (A3) do battle with the Czech Republic (B2), and Slovakia (A4) draws undefeated Sweden (B1), which was the top team in the preliminary round qith 11 points.