Panthers host Senators in battle of Tkachuk brothers ahead of 4 Nations break
Matthew Tkachuk has been on fire lately, scoring goals in each of his past five games
The Florida Panthers are gearing up for their final game before the NHL takes a break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Florida is set to host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena in a matchup of a pair of Atlantic Division playoff hopefuls.
Both teams will be off for two weeks afterwards and looking to enter the extended break on a high note.
Ottawa has been hanging out in Florida for a while now after playing back-to-back games in Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Thursday.
After winning five games in a row at the start of February, the Sens dropped both games against the Bolts this week.
Much of the spotlight entering the game will be on superstar brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk.
Brady is having a strong season, entering play Saturday with 20 goals and 43 points through 55 games, but only five of those points have come during his past 16 outings.
Matthew, meanwhile, is one of the hottest players in the NHL right now.
He’s scored goals in five straight games, accumulating 10 points over that span, and has 13 points over his past seven games.
Florida could be without rookie Mackie Samoskevich on Saturday against the Sens.
Samoskevich is day-to-day after suffering an upper-body injury during Thursday’s win in St. Louis, which was the youngster’s first game back in the lineup after missing the previous three due to an illness.
If he can’t go, Jonah Gadjovich will likely slot back into the lineup and skate on Florida’s fourth line with Tomas Nosek and A.J. Greer.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s scrum with the Sens:
Carter Verhaeghe– Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist– Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich
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