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GameDay Caterwaul: Florida Panthers vs New York Islanders

Panthers (1-0-0 2P) vs Islanders (0-1-0 0P)

  • WHEN: 6:00 p.m. ET
  • WHERE: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL
  • ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSG+
  • ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 640 WMEN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
  • SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Isles, #NYIvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
  • ENEMY INTEL: Lighthouse Hockey
  • FLA IN SEASON SERIES: First Meeting
  • LAST MEETING: NYI 3, @FLA 1 – (Recap) 12/12/2019
  • NEXT MEETING: November 16, 2021
  • PROJECTED STARTERS: Bobrovsky (1-0-0 .915 / 3.91 0SO) vs Sorokin (0-1-0 .875 / 5.18 0SO)
  • PLAYER STATS: Florida / New York/

Scouting Report

The Panthers overcame a two-goal deficit, thanks to a huge third period pair from Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe’s overtime-winner, to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 5-4 count in their season-opener at FLA Live Arena. Florida got 43 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, including a breakaway stop on Evan Rodrigues right before Verhaeghe notched his second to win it, a goal from Anthony Duclair, and a two-assist effort from Aleksander Barkov, who absolutely dominated in the faceoff department. Negatives in the wild victory were too many penalties and a dreadful 0 for 6 performance on the power play.

The Islanders, who will play 13 straight on the road to open the campaign while they wait for UBS Arena to be completed, were beaten 6-3 by the Carolina Hurricanes in the season-opener for both teams at PNC Arena in Raleigh. Mat Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee lit the lamp, but Carolina’s balanced attack proved too much for the usually stout Islanders to handle. Ilya Sorokin got the start and was beaten fives times on forty shots. Like the Panthers, the Isles came up empty (0 for 3) with the man-advantage.

It’s been awhile since the two teams have met. The last time they faced each other in the regular season was on December 12, 2019 when the Islanders posted a 3-1 victory at the then BB&T Center. Later that season, New York sent the Cats packing from the Toronto bubble with a series-clinching 5-2 win in Game 4 of the Qualifying Round of the expanded 24-team playoffs.

Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances):

  • Arizona (0-1-0 0P) at BUFFALO (1-0-0 2P) 1 p.m. (NHL Network)
  • Dallas (1-0-0 2P) at BOSTON (0-0-0 0P) 7 P.M.
  • OTTAWA (1-0-0 2P) at TORONTO (1-1-0 2P) 7 p.m.
  • New York Rangers (0-1-1 1P) at MONTREAL (0-1-0 0P) 7 p.m.
  • Vancouver (1-0-1 3P) at DETROIT (0-0-1 1P) 7 p.m.
  • TAMPA BAY (1-1-0 2P) at Washington (1-0-0 2P) 7 p.m./

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