The Florida Panthers (37-16-4) will try to get back to their winning ways when they host the Washington Capitals (26-21-7) this evening at Amerant Bank Arena. The last time the teams met on Febuary 8, the Panthers doubled up the Capitals 4-2 to kick off what tunrd out to be a six-game winning streak. That streak, along with Florida’s 11-game road winning streak, came to an end Thursday night in Raleigh when Sebastian Aho scored with 19 seconds left in regulation to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 victory. Despite pelting goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov with 44 shots, the Cats came up empty and lost for just the second time in the last 12 games. The Panthers have not given up more than two goals during the 10-2 run.
All of the sudden the Capitals have rebounded from a nasty 1-6-2 stretch to post consecutive wins over the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning – the team they are currently trying to catch for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Rasmus Sandin scored the go-ahead goal with 4:59 remaining in regulation, Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves, and Alex Ovechkin extended his point streak to ten games with an assist on Conor McMichael’s empty-netter which clinched the important 5-3 victory at Amalie Arena. Barring any unforessen circumstances, Ovechkin will become the 41st NHLer to appear in 1,400 games tonight.
- WHEN: 6:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MNMT
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #ALLCAPS, #WSHvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Japers’ Rink
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 3 (2-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 4, WSH 2 – (Recap) 2/8/2024
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (9-5-2 .926 / 1.97 1SO) / Washington: Lindgren (12-8-4 .915 / 2.63 3SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Washington
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- St. Louis (30-24-2 62P) at DETROIT (30-20-6 66P) 12 p.m. (ABC, ESPN+)
- MONTREAL (22-27-8 52P) at New Jersey (28-24-4 60P) 2 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (30-23-5 65P) at New York Islanders (23-19-14 60P) 2 p.m.
- TORONTO (32-16-8 72P) at Colorado (35-18-5 75P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- Vegas (32-19-6 70P) at OTTAWA (24-27-3 57P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (34-12-12 80P) at Vancouver (37-16-6 80P) 7 p.m.
Idle: BUF (56P)