The Florida Panthers are off until Friday’s meeting with the lowly Chicago Blackhawks at FLA Live Arena.
Chicago blew two leads last night in Detroit and fell to the Red Wings by a 4-3 count. The win allowed Detroit to stay on the periphery of the wild card chase.
Last night’s other results came from the Western Conference and saw the Minnesota Wild double-up the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 and the Vancouver Canucks edge the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in overtime, with J.T. Miller getting the game-winner 20 seconds in.
Tonight’s card features four games that directly impact the Panthers bid for the postseason, including a really important one from PPG Paints Arena.
- N.Y. Islanders (74P) at Pittsburgh (73P) 7 p.m.
- Dallas at Buffalo (68P) 7 p.m.
- New Jersey at Washington (68P)
- Ottawa (68P) at Seattle 10 p.m./
Root for Pittsburgh, Dallas, New Jersey and Seattle. An Islanders win wouldn’t be the worst thing as long as it comes in regulation. Don’t want to see both current wild cards getting points in that game.
AHL
The Charlotte Checkers returned home to Bojangles Coliseum and were beaten 3-2 by the Bridgeport Islanders last night. Gerry Mayhew (PPG) and Anthony Bitetto scored the goals for the Checkers while Lucas Carlsson, Aleksi Heponiemi, Cory Conacher and Riley Nash collected assists. J.F. Berube stopped 20 of 23 shots in the loss. The teams will play again on Friday and Saturday in Charlotte.