Looking to build momentum, Panthers head to Long Island aiming for second New York win this week

The Florida Panthers road trip through New York continues on Saturday when they make their first trip of the season to Long Island.

Florida is fresh off Thursday’s strong 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers and will look to make it two straight when they face the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

After nine games, the Panthers hold a 5-3-1 record and sit atop the Atlantic Division.

That’s particularly impressive because the Cats have played the majority of their season without Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Tomas Nosek.

Tkachuk returned to Florida’s lineup earlier this week after missing five games with an illness and Barkov is nearing a return from a lower-body injury that has kept him sidelined since Florida’s second game of the season.

Earlier this week, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice indicated that there was a chance Barkov could play on Saturday, but that Tuesday in Buffalo was a more likely option.

Ultimately, it’s up to Barkov and the team doctors to deem when he’s ready.

The Islanders enter Saturday’s game fresh off an overtime win in New Jersey on Friday.

Ilya Sorokin was in goal for the win, so Semyon Varlamov will be the expected starter Saturday against Florida.

New York is 3-2-2 through seven games this season, four of which have required more than 60 minutes, including three of their past four.

The Isles are 1-2 in overtime and 1-0 in the shootout.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s battle on Long Island:

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist – Mackie Samoskevich

A.J. Greer – Patrick Giles – Uvis Balinskis

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov

Nate Schmidt – Adam Boqvist 

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