St. Louis Blues (30-17-9 69P) vs Florida Panthers (32-16-6 70P)
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. ET – LBC GameThread right here at 7ish
- WHERE: BB&T Center – Hollywood Leisure City Sunrise, FL
- UPCOMING PROMOTIONS: Value Pack (tonight), Presidents Day specials, Valentine’s Day Weekend specials, Coke Zero Collectible Pins (details)/
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- ON THE TUBE: FOX Sports Florida, FOX Sports Midwest
- ON THE DIAL: 560 AM, 640 AM; Official App
- SOCIALS: #FlaPanthers, #StlBlues, #STLvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- GAME NOTES: STL/FLA
- ENEMY INTEL: St. Louis Game Time
- SB NATION: Game Hub /
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- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (1-0-0)
- ALL-TIME vs STL: 8W-17L-3T 1OTL 1SOL 50GF 77GA
- ALL-TIME at FLA: 4W-6L-2T 1OTL 1SOL 27GF 32GA
- LAST FIVE vs STL: 1W-4L-1SOL 17GF 9GA
- LAST GAME vs STL: FLA 3 at STL 1 (LBC Recap) – 12/01/2015/
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- PROJECTED STARTERS: Luongo (24-13-5 .928/2.17 4SO), Elliott (12-7-6 .932/2.07 1SO)
- JAGR WATCH: All-time vs STL (regular season): 30GP 8G-17A 25P 0GWG
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / St. Louis /
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Notable:
F Aleksander Barkov and D Erik Gudbranson remain out for tonight vs St. Louis and tomorrow vs Nashville. LW John McFarland (2010/2nd round) has been called up from AHL Portland; yet to play in the NHL, McFarland has 22 points (14G) in 43 games with the Pirates. C Corban Knight was reassigned to the AHL club.
NHL.com Preview:
Left wing Jaden Schwartz returns to the lineup after missing 49 games with a fractured left ankle sustained Oct. 23. Schwartz will play on a line with Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko but not in all aspects of the game yet. “I think the hardest thing to come back from a long-term injury is having to be doing a bunch of thinking on the ice,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “This way [Schwartz] just gets to play.” St. Louis has four even-strength goals in the past six games and scored one goal or less in five of the last six games. “We have some tough times scoring right now,” Tarasenko said. (More)
Yahoo.com Preview:
Florida figures to give Elliott a stern challenge having generated 34 goals over a 6-1-1 stretch. Temporarily shut down in Monday’s 3-0 loss to Detroit that halted a four-game home win streak, the Panthers’ offense got back on track with three first-period goals en route to Tuesday’s 7-4 victory at Buffalo. “We needed to have a bounce-back game,” said center Jussi Jokinen, who recorded a goal and two assists and has 12 points over his last eight. “We didn’t create enough (against Detroit), and we wanted to change that.” (More)
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Last game for the Cats: 7-4 victory in Buffalo on Tuesday. Past five: 3-1-1 20GF 15GA (streak: 1W)
Last game for the Blues: 2-1 shootout loss at home to Winnipeg on Tuesday. Past five: 2-2-1 7GF 8GA (streak: 1L)
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Friday in the Atlantic Division (Standings / Panthers Playoff Chances):
- MONTREAL (27-24-4 58P) at BUFFALO (21-28-6 48P), 7:00
- Colorado (27-25-4 58P) at DETROIT (21-18-8 64P), 7:30
- Nashville (25-21-8 58P) at TAMPA BAY (29-20-4 62P), 7:30
- Idle: BOS (62P), OTT (56P), TOR (47P)/
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Panthers, SoFla Media & Loyal Opposition on the Tweets
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