Games between Florida and Ottawa this season have been full of fighting and ferocity

There are two stops left on the Florida Panthers final road trip of the regular season.

The Panthers dropped both games of their back-to-back earlier this week in Toronto and Montreal and now enter Thursday's matchup with the Ottawa Senators having lost eight of their past 10 games.

In addition to the frustrating defeats – one in which they were nearly blown out of the building and another where they blew multiple leads – Florida's road trip has also cost the team in terms of overall health.

Both Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad left Monday and Tuesday's games early, respectively, due to injuries.

Verhaeghe is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury, but he's expected to be ready for the playoffs later this month.

The status of Ekblad won't be known until Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice speaks after the team's morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre.

Florida called up defenseman Uvis Balinskis from AHL Charlotte on Wednesday, so even without knowing what's happening with Ekblad, it doesn't seem like a great sign for his health status, at least in the short term.

Thursday's game will be the third of four matchups between the Panthers and Senators this season, with the finale coming up in five days back at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

One thing that has remained true in this matchup, carrying over from last season, is that these two teams do not like each other.

So far, Florida has won both of the matchups with Ottawa this season.

The first one was marred by penalty minutes, with the two squads combining for 167 PIMs in what was a 5-0 trouncing by Florida.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOhAkdr_QdQ[/embed]

Game two, which took place in late February, was equally contentious but the extracurricular activities were limited enough that it wasn’t necessary to call a smorgasbord of penalties. 

In the end, a gorgeous goal by Anton Lundell gave Florida the 3-2 win in overtime, but the lasting memory that night was Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky going after Ottaway's Brady Tkachuk. 

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since their pre-Trade Deadline move that sent scoring winger Vladimir Tarasenko to the Panthers.

In 12 games with Florida, Tarasenko has logged five goals and 10 points. 

That's the second highest point total of any player traded ahead of the deadline, trailing only Jake Guentzel, who has 16 points in 11 games with the Carolina Hurricanes. 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjBT0XfnSOw[/embed]

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Thursday's battle with Ottawa:

Vladimir Tarasenko – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura – Uvis Balinskis 

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