The suddenly cold Florida Panthers (12-7-1) host the Colorado Avalanche (11-9-0) this evening at Amerant Bank Arena to open a three-game homestand that features a rather high degree of difficulty.
After reeling off a seven-game winning streak, the Cats have dropped four of their last five, scoring a total of just 12 goals over that span. On Thursday night, they tested veteran keeper Petr Mrazek 33 times, but could only come with one goal in a 3-1 loss to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. That goal went to Sam Reinhart, who tied Alex Ovechkin in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy amd made him one of four NHLers to hit the 30-point plateau this season. Aleksander Barkov had a strong performance, but the Blackhawks were able to end his nine-game point streak.
The streaky Avalanche, who will playing the third of a four-game road trip, enter having won five of their last games. Alexander Georgiev returned from injury to make 28 saves in Thursday’s 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals, with Mikko Rantanen and Miles Wood provided the offense. Nathan McKinnon is tied with Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov for the lead in NHL scoring with 34 points in 20 games.
- WHEN: 6 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, Altitude
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoAvsGo, #COLvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Mile High Hockey
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 4, COL 0 (Recap) – 2/10/2024
- NEXT MEETING: January 6, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (9-4-1 .893 / 2.98 1SO) Colorado: Georgiev (5-5-0 .874 / 3.31 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Colorado
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Vegas (12-6-2 15P) at MONTREAL (7-10-2 16P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- Vancouver (9-6-3 21P) at OTTAWA (8-10-1 17P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (9-9-3 21P) at DETROIT (8-9-2 18P) 7 p.m.
- Dallas (12-6-0 24P) at at TAMPA BAY (10-6-2 22P) 7 p.m.
- BUFFALO (10-9-1 21P) at San Jose (6-11-5 17P) 8 p.m.
Idle: TOR (26P)