Panthers primed for matchup in Nashville despite missing pair of forwards
Nov 7, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) shoots the puck against the Nashville Predators during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)The Florida Panthers are back on the road, but not for long.
Fortunately for the well-traveled Panthers, this particular road trip only included one stop.
After holding a practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning, the Panthers made the short trip over to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and boarded a flight to Tennessee, where the Cats will face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena.
Florida will be without a pair of forwards, but for very different reasons.
Matthew Tkachuk did not travel with the team to Nashville while he nurses an apparent groin injury that he suffered during the 4 Nations tournament.
On Monday, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice refuted a report that Tkachuk would be out for the remainder of the season, saying that while the team doesn’t have an exact timetable yet, he expects Tkachuk to be back on the ice at some point before the season ends.
The other Florida forward staying behind in South Florida is Eetu Luostarinen.
As Maurice happily shared on Monday, Luostarinen is staying back with his wife, who is expected to give birth to their first child.
With Florida in need of a forward, the Cats called up Justin Sourdif from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
Sourdif has been enjoying an excellent third pro season in Charlotte.
Through 29 games, he’s racked up 11 goals and 22 points. Three of those 11 goals have been of the game-winning variety, and the next time he scores he’ll match the career high of 12 that he set last season.
Nashville, meanwhile, is struggling through a very disappointing season.
Currently, the Predators are 20-29-7, good for 47 points and the third-worst record in the NHL.
They’ll be playing their third game in four nights after coming out of the 4 Nations break with a back-to-back on home ice.
They defeated Colorado on Saturday before being shutout by New Jersey on Sunday, so we’ll see what the Preds have left in the tank for the shorthanded Panthers after a day of rest.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Tuesday's tussle with Nashville:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Justin Sourdif – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Scratches: Matthew Tkachuk, Eetu Luostarinen
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