The Florida Panthers (33-20-3) will host a fellow Atlantic Division denizen in the Ottawa Senators (29-22-4) at Amerant Bank Arena in the final game for both teams before the lengthy 4-Nations Face-Off break.
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and added an assist to power the Panthers to a 3-2 road win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday as the club maintained its one-point lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs (who have two games in hand) for first place in the division. Rookie Mackie Samoskevich also lit lamp and captain Aleskander Barkov provided two helpers.
The Senators were riding a five-game winning streak before they ran into the Tampa Bay Lightning, who beat them 4-3 on Tuesday and by a more convincing 5-1 count on Thursday, with both games played at Amalie Arena. Tim Stützle leads the Senators with 38 assists and 55 points. Brady Tkachuk is the only member of the club to hit 20 goals.
- WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoSensGo, #OTTvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Silver Seven Sens
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: @OTT 3, FLA 1 (Recap) – 10/10/2024
- NEXT MEETING: April 5, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (22-12-2 .901 / 2.71 2SO) Ottawa: Ullmark (12-8-2 .915 / 2.41 3SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Ottawa
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- TAMPA BAY (29-20-4 62P) AT DETROIT (28-21-5 61P) 1 P.M. (ABC)
- New Jersey (30-20-6 66P) at MONTREAL (25-24-5 53P) 1 p.m.
- Vegas (32-17-6 70P) at BOSTON (27-23-6 60P) 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
- TORONTO (33-19-2 68P) at Vancouver (25-18-11 61P) 7 p.m.
- BUFFALO (22-26-5 49P) at Nashville (18-28-7 43P) 8 p.m.