The Florida Panthers (20-11-2) are back home after a grueling five-game road trip and will face the St. Louis Blues (15-16-3) tonight at Amerant Bank Arena before making a quick trip up to Tampa to begin a home-and-home with the Lightning.
The Panthers got two goals from Matthew Tkachuk, a goal and two assists from Aaron Ekblad, and a goal and an assist from rookie Mackie Samoskevich in Wednesday night’s 6-1 romp over the Minnesota Wild. That win, coupled with Monday night’s thrilling 6-5 victory over the Edmonton Oilers allowed the Cats to shrug off being shut out in Vancouver and Calgary and finish the arduous trek west with a 3-2 record.
The Blues opened a three-game road trip last night at Amalie Arena and were beaten 3-1 by the host Lightning. Jordan Binnington got the hook after giving up three goals on 11 shots and Pavel Buchnevich was the only Blue able to solve Andrei Vasilevskiy. St. Louis is just 2-4-1 in its last seven games and mired in sixth place in the Central Division. Jordan Kyrou leads the team in goals (14) and in scoring with 28 points.
- WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, FDSNMW
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #STLBlues, #STLvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Bleedin’ Blue
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: FLA 5, @STL 1 (Recap) – 1/9/2024
- NEXT MEETING: February 6, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (15-6-1 .892 / 2.88 1SO) St. Louis: Hofer (7-3-0 .907 / 2.72 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / St. Louis
Friday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- TORONTO (20-10-2 42P) at BUFFALO (11-17-4 26P) 7 p.m. (ESPN+, Hulu)
- MONTREAL (12-16-3 27P) at DETROIT (13-14-4 30P) 7 p.m.
Idle: TBL (38P), BOS (38P), OTT (36P)