Florida and New York have been two of the hottest teams in the NHL since the calendar flipped to 2024

The Florida Panthers are in the Big Apple for a primetime meeting of two high-end hockey teams that should have NHL fans salivating.

Florida, one of the hottest teams in the league for the past couple months, will face the New York Rangers, one of the hottest teams in the league for the past couple weeks, in a matchup of a pair of Eastern Conference elites.

Entering play Monday, the Panthers hold the NHL’s best record, both by points and points percentage.

They’ve been lights out on the road, leading the league with 21 victories away from home.

That includes Florida’s current stretch in which they’ve picked up two points in 12 of their past 13 road outings.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have reeled off wins in 11 of their past 13 games and have points in 14 of 16, a 12-2-2 run.

So far this season, only the Panthers’ 41 wins are more than New York’s 40.

The Rangers have done well against Florida over the past few years, with wins in five of the past seven matchups.

New York also has points in six straight home games against the Panthers, a 5-0-1 stretch.

Two players leading the way for the Rangers are forwards Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.

The pair have combined for 70 points (40 for Panarin, 30 for Trocheck) over New York’s past 29 games, dating back to Dec. 27.

On the opposite side of the ice, Florida has its share of players who are enjoying strong scoring runs as well.

Matthew Tkachuk has logged 16 goals and 41 points over his past 24 games and defenseman Brandon Montour has logged 13 points over his past seven games.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Monday’s battle with the Rangers:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – William Lockwood

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov 

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