Tampa Bay Lightning (8-8-3 19P) vs Florida Panthers (7-7-3 17P)
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. ET – LBC GameThread right here at 7ish
- WHERE: BB&T Center – Miami Ft. Lauderdale Sunrise, FL
- TICKETS: Value Pack! (awesome deal; and tell ’em we sent ya)/
*
- ON THE TUBE: FOX Sports Florida, SUN Sports
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM, 640 WMEN, 107.9 WAXE, 97.7 The Wave, Official App (iOS, Android)
- SOCIALLY SPEAKING: #FlaPanthers, #TBLightning, #TBLvsFLA & if you’re feeling generous give us a follow @LitterBoxCats and toss us a “Like” at the LBC FaceBook page
- ENEMY INTEL: Raw Charge /
*
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 5 (1-0)
- ALL-TIME vs TBL: 59W-37L-10T 5OTL 7SOL 365GF 323GA
- ALL-TIME at FLA: 33W-12L-4T 4OTL 5SOL 188GF 154GA
- LAST FIVE vs TBL: 2-2-1 14GF 18GA/
*
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Luongo (5-6-2 .919/2.53 0SO), Vasilevskiy (2-1-0 .924/2.37 0SO)
- JAGR WATCH: All-time vs TBL (reg season): 72GP 34G-44A 78P 6GWG
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay /
- *
- NOTES: Where to begin? Updates via Twitter Sunday from Harvey and George seemed to confirm the following: first-line C Aleksander Barkov (hand injury; 1G/3P in 7GP vs TBL) is expected to return with Nick Bjugstad sliding back to C2…D Dmitry Kulikov (lower body/boarded by J.T. Brown on Saturday) will have an MRI and is likely to miss a week; D Steven Kampfer will likely replace him…F Shawn “they are a close rival” Thornton will obviously play (14PIM/2 hits 48 hours ago)…F Brandon Pirri’s success on the PS and SO proved to be the first time in NHL history a player netted goals in penalty shot and eventual game-winner shootout scenarios in a single match…Pirri was undoubtedly the hot hand, but F Reilly Smith notched 2 assists to lead the Cats in official scoring, which does not count SO goals for whatever reason…Florida leading scorer Jaromir Jagr (minus-1, 0 shots in 17:28) was held pointless for the first time in 3 games…The Panthers will honor nine recent inductees of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame this evening; former G John Vanbiesbrouck is among those highlighted…The annual Harvest Drive continues on the Jet Blue Tarmac tonight.
- QUOTED:/
“It was definitely one of the craziest games I’ve ever played, so it was good character win for the boys. I really wanted to make sure I made the saves, especially given the way the game had started. It’s nice to get rewarded in a situation like that. We found a way to win.”
– Lou via the locals
*
Last game for the Cats: 5-4 (SO) victory over Tampa Bay in Sunrise Saturday. Past five: 2-3-0 17GF 19GA (streak: 1W)
Last game for the Bolts: Um, see above but our bestest buds at Raw Charge have the match covered from a West Coast perspective. Past five: 2-2-1 12GF 12GA (streak: 1L)
*
NHL.com Preview:
Tampa Bay recalled forwards Mike Blunden and Jonathan Marchessault from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Sunday. Several forwards opted to skip an optional practice, including center Tyler Johnson, who left the game Saturday during the second period before returning in the third, and Cedric Paquette, who did not play in the final 10 minutes Saturday. (More)
*
Monday in the Atlantic Division (Standings / Panthers Playoff Chances):
- Vancouver (7-6-5 19P) at MONTREAL (13-3-2 28P), 7:30
- DETROIT (8-8-1 17P) at OTTAWA (8-5-4 20P), 7:30
- Idle: BOS (17P), BUF (17P), TOR (14P)/
*
Panthers, SoFla Media & Loyal Opposition on the Tweets
*