Florida will play its first game at Amerant Bank Arena since defeating Pittsburgh 3-1 on Dec. 8
The Florida Panthers will skate in front of their home fans for the first time in nearly two weeks when they host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Florida is fresh off an extended road trip that surely padded some frequent flyer mile accounts, but after coming away victorious in only two of the five games, the Cats will be hungry to resume their winning ways on home ice.
They’ll welcome a Blues team struggling to find their footing and fresh off a 6-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
It was only a week ago that St. Louis fired Head Coach Craig Berube, who led the Blues to a Stanley Cup title in 2019, and replaced him with Drew Bannister, the head coach of the team’s AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass.
Overall St. Louis has won just two of their past seven games, giving up 4.4 goals per outing during that span while scoring just 2.7.
Last season Florida mustered just one point during two outings against St. Louis, losing 5-4 in overtime on home ice before getting pulled 6-2 in the Blues’ barn.
The Panthers practiced on home ice Wednesday for the first time in nearly two weeks and will be glad be back in front of their home fans following a challenging five-game road trip.
Forward Jonah Gadjovich has already been ruled out due to an illness that has been impacting several players in Florida’s locker room.
Anton Lundell, who has missed Floirda’s past three games while suffering from the same illness, skated on his own Wednesday and will skate again on Thursday morning before a decision is made regarding his status for the Blues game.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Thursday’s tilt with the Blues:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Steven Lorentz
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmirty Kulikov
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