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Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs – Game 62 Preview

Florida: 29-20-12 (70PTS)
Toronto: 29-26-7 (65PTS)
Season Series: 2-0-0
Game Time: 7:00 PM EST
Television: Fox Sports Florida, SportsNet Ontario
Radio: 560 WQAM

The Panthers visit Toronto for the second and final time this season in a battle of two teams that made no changes on trade deadline day. The Panthers, of course, traded some picks and minor league players earlier in the week to pick up forwards Jerred Smithson and Wojtek Wolski from the Predators and Rangers, respectively. Both players have already contributed, with Smithson winning the majority of his faceoffs (and regularly backing up Stephen Weiss on important draws) and Wolski scoring the tying goal in Saturday’s win in Carolina. Wolski debuted on Shawn Matthias‘ line, but will take Kris Versteeg’s place tonight with Tomas Fleischmann and Tomas Kopecky, as Versteeg sits out with an unspecified lower body injury. The Cats reestablished a two point lead on the Winnipeg Jets with their back-to-back wins this weekend, while the Leafs are three points behind the Jets for eighth place and a playoff berth.

More from our Toronto cohorts at Pension Plan Puppets.
Panthers vs Maple Leafs coverage at SB Nation.
SB Nation Preview.
LBC Game Thread will open 30 minutes prior to puck drop.

News and Notes

Last meeting

Kris Versteeg had the game winner and Jose Theodore had the win in the Panthers’ 5-3 victory over the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre in late December.

Last game

For the second game in a row, the Cats came back from 2-0 to win the game, only this time they won in regulation, beating the visiting Canadiens 4-2 on the strength of two Stephen Weiss goals as well as one from Sean Bergenheim. Brian Campbell scored the insurance marker late in the third. Scott Clemmensen had the win.

Lineup

No changes were made prior to Monday’s trade deadline. F Kris Versteeg will be out the rest of the week with a lower body injury that’s been troubling him for the last couple of games. He is expected to be replaced in the lineup by F John Madden. Marcel Goc is still dealing with an unspecified lower body injury.

Injuries

Possible Scratches

  • F Marcel Goc (lower body)
  • F Kris Versteeg (lower body)/

Starting goaltenders:

Jose Theodore will face off against James Reimer.

Lines

Forwards
  1. Bergenheim-Weiss-Samuelsson
  2. Fleischmann-Kopecky-Wolski
  3. Santorelli-Matthias-Skille
  4. Madden-Smithson-Barch
Defense
  1. Campbell-Garrison
  2. Gudbranson-Jovanovski
  3. Weaver-Ellerby

Talking Points