Saturday Offseason Caterwaul: Florida Panthers Open Forum

All five Cats prospects in action at WJC today

The five Florida Panthers prospects -Spencer Knight, Devon Levi, Anton Lundell, Kasper Puutio and Emil Heineman - taking part in the World Junior Championship in Edmonton will all be in action in today’s quarterfinal round. At least one player’s tournament will end as ach rivals Finland (Lundell, Puutio) and Sweden (Heineman) will meet in the second game of the day. Barring a big upset or two, look for Levi and Knight to advance. As the top seeds, the U.S. and Canada can only meet in the final.

WJC Quarterfinals

Russia (B2) vs Germany (A3) 12 p.m. NHL Network

Finland (A2) vs, Sweden (B3) 3:30 p.m. NHL Network

Canada (A1) vs. Czech Republic (B4) 7 p.m. NHL Network

United States (B1) vs. Slovakia (A4) 10:30 p.m. NHL Network

Other news

The Panthers have signed goaltender Scott Darling to a professional tryout contract. Darling, 32, has appeared in 126 career NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks. He has compiled a 54-42-18 record with a 2.72 GAA, . 908 save percentage and 4 shutouts.

Justin Schutz scored his fourth goal of the ICE Hockey League season and added an assist in EC Red Bull Salzburg’s 5-4 shootout loss to visiting HCB Sudtirol Alperia.

Schutz finished the game with two shots on goal and a +1 rating. He has 14 points in 23 games for Red Bull this season.

Sophomore defenseman Cater Berger picked up his first point of the season with an assist on John Spetz’ second period goal that turned out be the game-winner in Connecticut’s 2-1 victory over New Hampshire. Berger finished the game with two shots on goal and a +1 rating. His first period interference penalty led to the only Wildcats goal.

Michael Benning finished with a -2 rating in Denver’s 4-3 loss to Colorado College. The freshman defenseman took a tripping penalty and failed to register a shot on goal.