Panthers make brief stop in Sunrise for battle with visiting Sharks
Florida has points in each of their past five games (4-0-1)
The Florida Panthers make a brief stop in Sunrise for a quick home game sandwiched between two road trip.
Fresh off a trip through Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the Panthers will host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night before heading back out for another week on the road.
Florida’s week has been a wild one, going 1-0-1 in Pennsylvania by a combined score of 12-10.
They’ll get right back on the road after facing the Sharks, with the Cats’ next home game not coming until Dec. 20.
San Jose arrives in South Florida playing some of their best hockey of the season overall, but fresh off their worst defeat of the campaign.
The Sharks went their first nine games of the season without a victory, but have since bounced back from the 0-7-2 start and currently hold a 10-14-5 record.
That includes Thursday’s 8-1 defeat in Tampa Bay, a game the Sharks entered with wins in four of five.
Now they’ll look to rebound and get back to the business of winning.
San Jose has been led by veteran Mikael Granlund, who paces the team with 10 goals and 29 points.
While Tyler Toffoli is tied with Granlund for the team lead in goals, let’s be honest…most of us will looking out for rookie sensation Macklin Celebrini when the Sharks take the ice on Saturday.
Last summer’s first overall draft selection has eight goals and 15 points through his first 17 games and has been just as impressive in the defensive zone as he has been with the puck on his stick.
As for the Panthers, they could be getting a pair of players who missed the trip through Pennsylvania back in the lineup.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stayed in South Florida for the birth of his second child but is expected to be back on the ice Saturday.
With Bob not traveling, Florida needed a goalie and they called up Chris Driedger, which meant the team needed to make a corresponding move to get under the salary cap.
Rookie Mackie Samosoevich, despite having a very strong first NHL season, was loaned to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers in a corresponding move because he is waivers exempt.
That means Florida could remove Samoskevich from their roster without fear of another team claiming him.
So far this season, Samoskevich has racked up five goals and nine points in 22 games, with eight of those nine points coming over his past 13 outings.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and for Saturday’s swim with the Sharks:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Nate Schmidt
Dmitry Kulikov – Uvis Balinskis
Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Adam Boqvist
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