Florida defeated Washington 4-2 at Amerant Bank Arena earlier this month

The Florida Panthers will be looking to resume their winning ways after hitting a bump in the road on Thursday in Carolina.

It was a tough 1-0 loss in which Florida put up 45 shots, including 13 of the high danger variety, but now the Cats will be back on home ice and are set to face a different kind of opponent in the Washington Capitals.

While Carolina, like the Panthers, have been playing excellent hockey over the past couple months and are in a comfortable spot in the playoff race, the same cannot be said about the Capitals.

Entering play Saturday, Washington is the first team on the outside of a playoff spot, trailing Tampa Bay by five points for the final Wild Cart spot, but with three games in hand.

The Capitals have also done a good job turning around their recent fortunes following a 4-2 loss to Florida earlier this month on Feb. 8.

Since that loss, Washington has gone 4-1-1, with the two losses coming to a pair of powerhouse squads from the Western Conference in Colorado and Vancouver.

The big question, or questions, on the Florida side of the ice regards the health of two key players who left Thursday’s game due to injury.

Matthew Tkachuk and Gustav Forsling each left the loss in Carolina after sustaining injuries during the first period.

Tkachuk took a shoulder to the torso from Andrei Svechnikov late in the period and skated himself to the bench but never returned to the game.

Forsling’s last shift came several minutes earlier, though there was no apparent play or sequence during the shift where he appeared to be injured.

After the game, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said both players were considered day-to-day and would be reevaluated the following day.

Maurice is expected to provide updates on both players after Florida’s morning skate on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.

Josh Mahura would slot into the lineup if Forsling can’t go, while Maurice would choose between Will Lockwood and Steven Lorentz to replace Tkachuk, depending on how he wants the forward lines to shake out.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for Florida ahead of Saturday’s matchup with the Capitals, but obviously things may change depending on the availability of Tkachuk and Forsling:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov 

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