Florida enter's Tuesday's game with wins in nine of their past 12 outings

It took the Florida Panthers until the end of January before they won three games in a row last season.

Florida only had one winning streak that lasted longer than three games, and it was the six-game run during the final weeks of the season that pushed the Cats into the playoffs.

Things are a little different this year.

The defensive systems that Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice began implementing last season are being executed at levels that are night and day from where they started.

A more consistent, cohesive unit, Florida finds itself currently riding a four-game run of victories and holding a tidy 9-2-1 over its past 12 games.

“We look at our team last year at this time to this year at this time, and we're very happy where our goaltending is and our defensive play,” Maurice said following Florida’s practice at SAP Center on Monday.

The Panthers excelling in those particular facets of the game will go a long way towards earning two points when they face the Sharks.

That’s because San Jose is the most offensively inept team in the NHL, and it’s not even close.

Entering play Tuesday, the Sharks have played 15 games this season. They have scored one or zero goals in 11 of those games.

Not only is that good for fewest goals in the league, but the gap between San Jose, who average 1.20 goals per game, and the next highest team (Washington) is more than a goal ahead (Caps average 2.31).

It’s okay though, because the Sharks are also last in the league in goals against, surrendering 4.40 per game.

For those wondering, the Panthers average 3.14, tied for 19th-best in the league scoring, and give up 2.86, good for ninth fewest.

Here are the lines and pairings the Panthers are projected to roll on Tuesday night in San Jose:

Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins

Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Steven Lorentz

Gus Forsling – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov

Josh Mahura – Uvis Balinskis 

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