The struggling Florida Panthers (46-21-5) will look to bounce back after a frustrating loss on Tuesday that cost them first place in the Atlantic Division when they take on the New York Islanders (30-26-15 ) tonight at Amerant Bank Arena. Carter Verhaeghe put the Cats up a goal with 10:07 left in the third period, but a costly Evan Rodrigues penalty opened the door for the Boston Bruins and they kicked it down, tying the game on Trent Frederic’s power-play goal before David Pastrnak’s pass deflected off Pavel Zacha’s skate to send the Panthers to their fifth defeat in the last six games.
The Islanders are also coming in cold, just 1-6-1 over the last eight games, and are running out of runway if they want to slip into the postseason. After halting a seven-game losing streak with an impressive 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets, the Islanders were blanked 4-0 by the New Jersey Devils Sunday in the second segment of a back-to-back at UBS Arena. New York is currently six points out of a playoff spot and will make stops in Tampa and Philadelphia after concluding the season series against the Panthers.
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSGSN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Isles, #NYIvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Belmont Skates
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (1-1)
- LAST MEETING: FLA 3, @NYI 2 – (Recap) 1/27/2024
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (14-5-2 .927 / 1.97 1SO) New York: Varlamov (8-7-4 .910 / 2.86 2SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / New York
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Philadelphia (36-27-10 82P) at MONTREAL (27-32-12 66P) 7 p.m.
- Chicago (21-46-5 57P) at OTTAWA (31-36-4 66P) 7 p.m.
- Washington (36-26-9 81P) at TORONTO (40-22-9 89P) 7 p.m.
- DETROIT (36-29-7 79P) at Carolina (45-21-7 97P) 7:30 p.m.
Idle: BOS (99P), TBL (87P), BUF (73P)