The Florida Panthers are idle today, but they should hold a practice at Honda Center, which means head coach Paul Maurice will fill us in on the latest regarding the injury to captain Aleksander Barkov, who had an MRI yesterday. Cross your fingers…
Florida’s next opponent, the Anaheim Ducks opened their season with a 4-3 road win over the Vegas Golden Knights last night in Sin City. The Boston Bruins took the early lead in the Atlantic Division with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Winnipeg Jets. In other games, the New York Rangers blanked the Detroit Red Wings 2-0; the St. Louis Blues did the same to the Dallas Stars by a 4-0 count; and the Washington Capitals cruised to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
26 of the league’s teams will be in action tonight in the first full day of action so far this season. NHL Network will be broadcasting the Seattle-Edmonton tilt at 7 p.m.
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Chicago (0-2-0 0P) at BUFFALO (0-1-0 0P) 7 p.m.
- OTTAWA (0-0-0 0P) at TORONTO (1-1-0 2P) 7 p.m.
- Washington (1-0-0 2P) at TAMPA BAY (0-1-0 0P) 7 p.m.
- MONTREAL (1-0-0 2P) at Pittsburgh (1-0-0 2P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (2-0-0 4P) at Minnesota (1-0-0 2P) 8 p.m.
Idle: FLA (3P), DET (0P)
In prospect news, Simas Ignatavicius was credited with two shots, a block and went 1-for-1 on faceoffs while playing 12:38 in Genève-Servette HC’s 3-2 shootout win over SC Bern in action from the National League in Switzerland.
Stepan Gorbunov logged 16:44 of ice time and finished with three shots on goal and won 10-of-18 faceoffs in Traktor Chelyabink’s 3-2 victory over AK Bars Kazan in action from the KHL.
Vilho Vanhatalo registered two shots on goal in 6:34 in Tappara’s 3-2 overtime win over Jokerit in action from Finland’s Liiga.
Shamar Moses was credited with three shots on goal and went minus-one in North Bay Battalion’s 4-1 loss to the London Knights in OHL action.
Jonas Kemps had two shots on goal and was called for a roughing minor in the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-1 loss to the Wenatchee Wild in action from the WHL.
If you haven’t already, sign up for LBC’s ninth annual Regular Season Predictions Contest. The deadline is 7 p.m. tonight or thereabouts.