Florida Panthers (24-12-4 52P) at Ottawa Senators (19-15-6 44P)
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. ET – LBC GameThread right here at 7ish
- WHERE: Canadian Tire Center – Ottawa, ON/
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- ON THE TUBE: FOX Sports Florida, RDS, TSN5
- ON THE DIAL: 560, 640, 760, 1210 (AM); 97.7, 107.9 (FM); Official App
- SOCIALLY SPEAKING: #FlaPanthers, #Sens, #FLAvsOTT, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook page
- ENEMY INTEL: Silver Seven
- SB NATION: Game Hub /
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- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 5 (1-1-0)
- ALL-TIME vs OTT: 33W-45L-3T 4OTL 0SOL 226GF 266GA
- ALL-TIME at OTT: 16W-20L-2T 3OTL 0SOL 104GF 128GA
- LAST FIVE vs OTT: 3-2-0 12GF 13GA/
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- PROJECTED STARTERS: Luongo (18-11-3 .930/2.06 3SO), Anderson (16-11-4 .917/2.79 2SO)
- JAGR WATCH: All-time vs OTT (regular season): 71GP 40G-43A 83P 11(!)GWG
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Ottawa /
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NOTES:
Sens D Erik Karlsson leads Ottawa in scoring with 42 points (9G, 2GWG); next up is F Bobby Ryan with 12-23-36P in 39 GP…The Senators are 7-2-0 in their past nine at Canadian Tire in 2015-16…Memorable onetime Panthers G Craig Anderson – an all-around Good Guy who remains a resident of SoFla – is 12-4-2 lifetime with 3 shutouts with a sparkling .938/1.99 duo against his former club…Over their last four games the Sens have been outscored 15-6…Florida G Roberto Luongo defeated visiting Ottawa on December 22nd with a 15(!) save performance in a 2-1 shootout victory; Corban Knight had the regulation goal, followed by Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov (with the winner) in the skillz komp…The Panthers have a plus-11 goal differential over the last five games (16GF/5GA)…There is a winning streak of some sort in play but darned if we can find any info regarding it, so just enjoy the evening.
NHL.com Preview:
Forwards Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad will be in the lineup, coach Dave Cameron said. Michalek fractured his index finger Dec. 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Zibanejad left a 3-2 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday after taking a stick to the face in the first period. They practiced on a line with Hoffman. Defenseman Cody Ceci, who hasn’t played since Dec. 20 because of an upper-body injury, skated Wednesday on a pairing with Patrick Wiercioch, but Cameron will wait until Thursday to determine if Ceci will be in the lineup. (More)
Yahoo.com Preview:
After going 3 for 35 on the power play in the previous 11 games, Ottawa went 2 for 3 on Monday. The Panthers have killed 13 of 14 penalties in the last three games. “Big game at home,” [Senators] defenseman Chris Wideman said. “It’s going to be a big test.” (More)
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Last game for the Cats: 5-1 victory in Buffalo on Tuesday. Past five: 5-0-0 16GF 5GA (streak: 10W)
Last game for the Sens: 3-2 OT win in St. Louis Monday. Past five: 2-3-0 9GF 16GA (streak: 1W)
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Thursday in the Atlantic Division (Standings / Panthers Playoff Chances):
- TORONTO (16-15-7 39P) at Los Angeles (25-12-2 52P), 10:30
- Idle: MON (49P), DET (47P) BOS (44P), TBL (42P), BUF (34P)/
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Roberto Luongo on NHL Tonight
Panthers, SoFla Media & Loyal Opposition on the Tweets
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