A Black Friday matinee is on tap today as the Florida Panthers (13-9-1) pay a visit to the Eastern Conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes (16-5-1) at Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
After dropping the first two of a three-game homestand, the Panthers finally reverted to form on Wednesday, dominating the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 to end a four-game losing streak. Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored and produced multi-point games, and rookie Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Reinhart provided Florida’s other goals in the key four-point contest which pulled Florida within a point of the injury-riddled Maple Leafs.
While the Cats were spanking the Buds, the Hurricanes pulled off a third period rally to post a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers on home ice. Red-hot Martin Necas set up goals from Jack Drury and Seth Jarvis before Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jackson Blake lit the lamp in the third to push Carolina past the fourth place Rangers. Necas is leading the NHL in scoring with 37 points. Florida will face either third string goalie Spencer Martin, who picked up his second-straight win on Wednesday, or Pytor Kotchekov, who has been in concussion protocol.
- WHEN: 3 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Lenovo Center – Raleigh, NC
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, FDSNSO
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #RaiseUp, #FLAvsCAR, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Canes Country
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 3
- LAST MEETING: @CAR 4, FLA 0 (Recap) – 3/14/2024
- NEXT MEETING: November 30, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (10-5-1 .889 / 3.05 1SO) Carolina: Martin (3-2-1 .856 / 3.33 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Carolina
Friday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Vancouver (11-7-3 25P) at BUFFALO (11-10-1 23P) 3 p.m.
- New Jersey (15-8-2 32P) at DETROIT (10-10-2 22P) 3 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (11-8-2 24P) at Nashville ( P) 3 p.m.
- Pittsburgh (8-12-4 20P) at BOSTON (11-10-3 25P) 6:30 (TNT)
Idle: TOR (28P), OTT (21P), MON (19P)