Florida: 28-33-9 (65PTS) Toronto: 31-30-10 (72PTS) Season Series: 1-1-1
Tonight is the final meeting between the Panthers and the Maple Leafs. There’s usually a good crowd on hand for Leafs games, and even though it’s late in the season and some of the snowbirds are starting to pack up, the fact that the Leafs still have a shot at their first playoffs for a few years likely means there will be a good crowd at tonight’s game.
Last meeting: The Leafs won the last game, in Toronto. The score was 4-3 in overtime.
Last game: The Panthers lost 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers at home. Jeff Carter had two goals and Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves. Sergei Samsonov had assists on both Panthers goals.
Notes: There is no player movement or injury news today. The same lineup from Tuesday will play again tonight, with the exception of goaltender Vokoun.
Injuries: Scott Timmins, concussion, unknown (3/10/2011). Alexander Sulzer (day to day), unknown (3/5/2011), Evgeni Dadonov (IR), broken finger, out at least a month (3/3/2011). Jack Skille (day to day), High ankle sprain, unknown (2/23/2011). Shawn Matthias (IR), broken ankle, out 6-8 weeks (1/31/2011). Rostislav Olesz, knee, out for the season (2/25/2011). Byron Bitz (IR), sports hernia, out for the season.
Starting goaltenders: Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Scott Clemmensen will face off tonight. They were the starters in the two games in Toronto this season (a loss and an overtime loss for the Panthers). Vokoun started in the win at home. Clemmensen had 6 goals against, a 2.91 GAA and made 52 saves in the two games for a percentage of .885. Vokoun gad 1 goal against and a .970 save percentage in the previous game. Giguere allowed 4 goals for a 1.92 GAA, 2 wins, and had 55 saves for a .927 save percentage in 2 games against the Panthers season.
Lines:
Bergfors – Weiss – Samsonov
Booth – Reasoner – Repik
Duco – Santorelli – Bernier
Hordichuk – Carter – Rissmiller
Defense:
Weaver-Garrison
Kulikov-Ellerby
Callahan-Wilson
The Panthers have been good against the Leafs at home the last few years and are 4-1 in their last five. Stephen Weiss has 11 points in his last ten games against his hometown team. The Panthers have also been good on the power play against Toronto this season, which is a really strange sentence to be writing. But they have scored on 5 out of 12, more than twice their full season average.
More from our Toronto cohorts at Pension Plan Puppets
Maple Leafs vs Panthers coverage at SBNation.com
TSN Preview here.