Florida has won six straight games on home ice

The Florida Panthers will face tough test on the eve of Thanksgiving when they host the Boston Bruins at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida and Boston hold the top two spots in the Atlantic Division, with the Panthers sitting four points behind last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner.

Wednesday will be the second meeting between the two Atlantic Division rivals since their seven-game battle in the opening round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Florida emerged victorious during the postseason series, but it was the Bruins getting the last laugh back on Oct. 30 with a 3-2 overtime win in Boston.

It was quite the spirited affair, ending with two Florida players injured: Sam Bennett and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

The latter of those injuries caught the eye of the NHL Department of Player Safety, which suspended Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy four games for an illegal hit to Ekman-Larsson’s head.

McAvoy already had the attention of the Panthers after unleashing a similar hit to the head-area of Carter Verhaeghe earlier in the game, so it will be interesting to see how Florida’s players react when they see McAvoy on Wednesday.

Through 17 games, the Bruins have only one regulation loss, which is pretty ridiculous. They appear to have picked up right where they left off last regular season, despite losing several key players, including Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, during the offseason.

The Panthers have been similarly surprising, as some picked both Florida and Boston to suffer drop-offs from last year’s success.

It appears to be the Cats and Bears that are getting the last laugh, as both seem primed for another strong season and what they hope are long, prosperous playoff runs…as long as they don’t meet in the opening round again.

Florida enters Wednesday’s battle fresh off a 5-3 win on home ice over the Edmonton Oilers while Boston is coming off a frustrating loss in Tampa in which the Lightning tied the game with under five seconds left and then won it in overtime.

The Panthers have won six straight games at home and hold a 7-1-0 record in Sunrise this season. 

Panthers captain Sasha Barkov may have to miss his second straight game after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe on Friday.

Barkov did not suffer any major damage and is considered day-to-day. Maurice said earlier this week that the team’s medical staff would monitor the swelling and range of motion in Barkov’s knee to determine when he could return to the lineup.

Here are the projected forward lines and defensive pairings for Florida:

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Evan Rodrigues – Kevin Stenlund – Nick Cousins

Jonah Gadjovich – Steven Lorentz – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov 

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