Panthers can make Canadian road trip a success with win in Montreal

Florida has gone 1-0-1 so far on its three-game trip through eastern Canada

A quick three-game road trip through eastern Canada will come to an end on Thursday night for the Florida Panthers.

In just a 48-hour span the Panthers played in both Ottawa and Toronto, leaving Ontario with a boatload of penalty minutes and three of a possible four points in the standings.

Now the Cats will try to make it a near-perfect trip when they lock horns with the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.

This will be the first of four meetings between the divisional opponents.

Laat season, Florida swept the four-game regular season series while outscoring the Canadiens 27-11. That’s an average of just under seven goals per game for the Cats.

Montreal isn’t the pushover that they were last season, entering Thursday’s game with an even 10-10-2 record following a 4-2 road win in Columbus on Wednesday.

The Panthers are fresh off Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout loss in Toronto and hold a 13-7-2 record, good for second place in the Atlantic Division.

Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to get the start in goal for Florida against the Habs. He’s coming off a strong effort on Monday in Ottawa, where he earned the 40th shutout of his illustrious NHL career during the Cats’ 5-0 victory.

Bob carries a .910 save percentage and 2.49 goals against average so far this season, and his 10 wins are tied for third-most in the league.

On the other side of the ice, Montreal will start young goaltender Cayden Primeau.

The 24-year-old Voorhees, New Jersey native will be appearing in his fifth game of the season, currently holding a 2-2-0 record with a 3.41 goals against average and .898 save percentage.

His most recent start was a strong one, earning a 3-2 shootout victory on the road in San Jose last Friday.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Thursday’s battle in Montreal:

Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins

Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov 

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