Panthers open 3-game homestand against McDavid, Draisaitl, star-studded Oilers
Florida will be without captain Sasha Barkov, who is day-to-day with a knee injury
The Florida Panthers have been one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference this season.
Despite missing several key players for almost all of their 17 games, the Panthers hold a solid 11-5-1 record and sit in second place in the Atlantic Division.
The Cats will look to keep the good times rolling this week when they kick off a three-game, Thanksgiving week homestand on Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers.
It will be the first time that Florida has Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour and Sam Bennett together in the lineup on home ice this season.
Unfortunately, the Panthers will be without captain Sasha Barkov, who is considered day-to-day after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim’s Jackson LaCombe on Friday.
While the start to Florida’s season, despite the injuries, has gone quite well, it’s been a much different story for the Oilers.
Edmonton won just two of its first 12 games, leading to the firing of head coach Jay Woodcroft.
He was replaced by Hartford Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, who has enjoyed success in the AHL, and previously coached Connor McDavid at the junior level.
The Oilers won the first two games with Knoblauch behind the bench, but they come into Monday’s matchup with Florida fresh off a 6-4 loss on Saturday in Tampa.
The defeat was also the fourth straight game Edmonton scored four goals, and entering Monday, the Oilers lead the NHL averaging 34.4 shots on goal per game.
Offensive production is rarely an issue for the potent Edmonton lineup, which will make for an interesting matchup with the defensive-minded Panthers.
Over Florida’s past five outings, a stretch they went 4-1-0, the Cats allowed an average of just 2.4 goals per game while scoring 3.4.
Florida is also one of only two teams in the league that hasn’t given up more than 35 shots in a game.
It will be interesting to see which team is able to impose their style of hockey on the other.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Monday’s game against the Oilers:
Carter Verhaeghe – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – 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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