The Florida Panthers (16-9-2) are back in town to host the San Jose Sharks (10-14-5) at Amerant Bank Arena this evening in a home one-off before heading out for a five-game road trip against Western Conference foes.
Matthew Tkachuk racked up five points to spark the Panthers to a comeback win after they gassed a three-goal lead before rallying to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5 on Thursday. The victory gave Florida a 4-0-1 record in its last five games. In addition to Tkachuk’s clinching empty-netter, the Cats got goals from Evan Rodrigues, Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling and league-leader Sam Reinhart. An uneven Spencer Knight made 29 saves to collect his fifth win of the season.
The Sharks arrived in the Sunshine State on a season-high three-game winning which came to an abrupt end when they were routed 8-1 by the Tampa Bay Lighting at Amalie Arena on Thursday. Former Panther Alex Wennberg was the only Elasmobranch to solve Andrei Vasilevskiy in the one-sided affair. The Cats will get their first look at rookie sensation Macklin Celebrini, who has produced seven goals and 15 points in his first 17 NHL games.
- WHEN: 6 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, NBCSCA
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #TheFutureIsTeal, #SJSvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: San Jose Hockey Now
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: FLA 5, @SJS 3 (Recap) – 11/14/2023
- NEXT MEETING: January 25, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (11-5-1 .890 / 3.04 1SO) San Jose: Blackwood (6-8-3 .907 / 3.00 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / San Jose
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Philadelphia (12-11-3 27P) at BOSTON (14-11-3 31P) 1 p.m.
- Utah (10-11-4 24P) at BUFFALO (11-12-3 25P) 1 p.m.
- Washington (18-6-2 36P) at MONTREAL (10-13-2 22P) 7 p.m.
- Nashville (7-14-6 20P) at OTTAWA (11-12-2 24P) 7 p.m.
- Colorado (14-13-0 28P) at DETROIT (10-12-4 24P) 7 p.m.
- TORONTO (16-8-2 34P) at Pittsburgh (11-13-4 26P) 7 p.m.
Idle: TBL (28P)