Florida: 13-8-4 (30PTS)
San Jose: 14-7-1 (29PTS)
Season Series: 0-0-0
Game Time: 10:30 PM EST
Television: Fox Sports Florida, Comcast Sports Net California
Radio: 560 WQAM
It will be another late night for Panthers fans as the team completes its California road trip against the San Jose Sharks. The Panthers have been good against the Sharks the last several years, winning their last 3 games, with a 3-2-0 record since the lockout. The Sharks started a little slow, but have 7 wins in their last 10 games, while the Panthers’ hot start has cooled a bit following a number of injuries. Tonight’s game should feature some exciting action. One of the better features of previous Panthers teams was their strong showing in the Western Conference and this has continued with the current team, quite likely thanks to the large number of new Panthers who came from Western Conference teams.
More from our San Jose cohorts at Fear The Fin.
Panthers vs Sharks coverage at SB Nation.
TSN Preview.
LBC Game Thread will open 30 minutes prior to puck drop.
News and Notes
Last meeting
The Sharks visited Sunrise and the hosts won the game 3-2. Jason Garrison had the game winning goal and Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves for the win.
Last game
The Panthers outworked, outhustled and outshot the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, but could only put one goal past Jonathan Quick, who made 40 saves. The power play was the difference as the Panthers went 0-for-6, while the Kings’ game winner came on the power play. The six power plays included a double minor on Mike Richards for retaliation against Sean Bergenheim for the hit that put Richards on the injured reserve.
Lineup
Kris Versteeg will return to the lineup this evening. Bracken Kearns, called up to play in Versteeg’s place in Los Angeles will instead replace Evgenii Dadonov tonight. Dadonov started the last game on the top line in place of Versteeg, but was moved off of that line later in the game after a bad start. Kevin Dineen, unhappy with his play, will scratch him this evening.
Injuries
- F Mikael Samuelsson (rehab from abdominal surgery), 10/24, day to day
- F Scottie Upshall (hip), 11/10, 6 to 8 weeks
- F Matt Bradley (undisclosed), 11/16, 1 week
- F Marcel Goc (undisclosed head injury), 11/16, day to day
Healthy Scratches
- D Keaton Ellerby
- F Evgenii Dadonov
Starting goaltenders:
Scott Clemmensen will face Thomas Greiss in the battle of the backups. Clemmensen will make his first start in San Jose.
Lines
Forwards
- Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg
- Kopecky-Santorelli-Sturm
- Bergenheim-Matthias-Skille
- Kennedy-Cullen-Kearns
Defense
- Campbell-Garrison
- Jovanovski-Gudbranson
- Kulikov-Weaver