Panthers riding high, host Montreal looking for fourth win this week
Florida has climbed within two points of Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division
The Florida Panthers will wrap up their third back-to-back set of the season on Saturday night when they host the Montreal Canadiens.
Florida is fresh off Friday’s impressive 4-3 win over the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers and will be looking to win a fourth game in a row for just the second time this season.
The Panthers welcomed 19,723 fans to Amerant Bank Arena for Friday’s tilt with the Rangers and another large crowd is expected for the final home game of 2023 against Montreal.
Florida holds a 1-0-1 record on the second night of back-to-backs this season, having won in Anaheim 2-1 back on Nov. 17 and then losing 2-1 in a shootout in Toronto a couple weeks later on Nov. 28.
Montreal arrives in South Florida a team that has appeared to be turning a corner in recent weeks.
Since dropping four straight games in mid-November, the Canadiens have gone 8-5-3.
They had a five-game points streak, their longest of the season, snapped when they lost on Thursday in Carolina.
As for the Panthers, they come in as healthy as they’ve been all season and playing some of their best hockey of the year.
Florida’s top line has been particularly scalding, and its thanks in large part to a pair of elite forwards: Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart.
Over the past week, Reinhart has racked up five goals in three games, including back-to-back games with a pair of tallies.
He’s up to 23 goals and 44 points through 35 games this season.
As for Barkov, he’s got eight assists in three games this week, with his last helper moving him into a tie with Jonathan Huberdeau for the most assists in Panthers franchise history with 415.
Barkov now has 27 assists and 38 points in 32 games so far this year.
Backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz is expected to get the nod between the pipes for Florida on the second night of the back-to-back.
Stolarz has started three games this month and holds a 4-3-1 record on the year, carrying a 2.18 goals against average and .915 save percentage since joining the Panthers.
Aside from the starting goaltender, Florida is expected to utilize the same lineup on Saturday that they’ve been rolling with of late.
Here are Florida’s projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s tilt with the Habs:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Will Lockwood
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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