Panthers return home to face Senators looking to keep good times rolling

When teams played in November they combined for 13 misconducts and 167 penalty minutes

The Florida Panthers will be back on home ice for the first time in over a week when they host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida is riding high, winners of five straight games overall and holding an NHL-best 18-3-2 mark since Dec. 23.

The strong run has propelled the Panthers to the top of the Eastern Conference, battling with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers for the number one seed.

Now they’ll face an Ottawa Senators squad that is seemingly past the point of no return in terms of the playoff race.

Despite winning in Tampa on Monday night and holding a 9-4-2 record over their past 15 games, 

Ottawa remains 16 points back of Detroit for the final Wild Card spot.

This will be the second time this season the Panthers and Sens will meet.

Back in late November, Florida took down Ottawa 5-0 in a game that featured 13 misconducts and 167 penalty minutes. 

There were multiple brawls that night, and one of the officials infamously announced 10-minute penalties for everyone on the ice. 

The Panthers will go back to goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky – whose won each of his past six starts, allowing two or less goals in each – while Ottawa is expected to start Joonas Korpisalo after going with Anton Forsberg during Monday’s 4-2 win in Tampa.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Tuesday’s tilt with the Sens:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov 

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