FHN Today: Florida Panthers Diving Into the Atlantic

For the first time this season, the Florida Panthers will play back-to-back games against a divisional foe when they face a familiar bunch of faces in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thursday night’s win against the Detroit Red Wings marked just the sixth game within the Atlantic Division for the Panthers — which is not that uncommon.

Coming into Friday night’s action, Toronto, Ottawa and the Panthers had played six divisional games; Montreal had played in five.

There will be plenty more to come.

The Panthers have a lot of games within the Atlantic coming as the season rolls along although they have played Boston twice and this will be the second meeting against the Lightning.

Florida has yet to face Montreal or Toronto.

The Panthers’ 4-1-1 divisional record is tied with the Leafs for best in the Atlantic.

So they got that going for them, which is nice.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

Sergei Bobrovsky’s return to the net Tuesday night in Winnipeg was almost by design as the Panthers were going to give him a chance to play the first time Spencer Knight showed signs of struggle.

The Panthers know they need Bobrovsky to get his game back on track and after two solid performances this week, they hope he is doing just that.

We expect Bobrovsky to start today in Tampa but it who goes tomorrow against the Kraken is not known.

Depends on how Knight is feeling, for sure. Alex Lyon is up from Charlotte and could get the call.

— The Panthers had Friday off so check out Thursday’s postgame video on the FHN YouTube Channel with Sasha Barkov, Paul Maurice, Matthew Tkachuk and Chris Tierney.

Will have pregame from Maurice later this afternoon as well as reaction postgame.

As always, check out all of our FHN videos RIGHT HERE or just click on the videos below and enjoy them at your leisure.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was back at practice Thursday a mere 10 days after suffering his second stroke in eight years.

Letang was one of the few taking part in an optional morning skate on Friday but he did not play against the Sabres.

“It’s a scary word. ‘Stroke’ is a scary word,” Letang said on Thursday. “I’m lucky to have the staff that we have. I know I’m in good hands. I’ve been lucky that these things have resolved on their own, and I can go back to a normal life.”

— Washington Capitals defenseman Alex Alexeyev left Friday night’s game with the Kraken after taking an elbow to the head from Jamie Oleksiak. Alexeyev was bleeding and was attended to on the ice.

— The Philadelphia Flyers kicked off their road trip in Vegas on Friday night with Torts making a surprising benching.

— If the Montreal Canadiens are shopping defenseman Joel Edmundson, what is his value?

— The Dallas Stars finally figured out the Ottawa Senators.

— The Calgary Flames made some lineup changes Friday night in Columbus. Did not help. Jackets win 3-1.

— The Los Angeles Kings have some things they need to address.

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

• When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM 2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Season Series (Tampa Bay leads 1-0): Lightning 3, Panthers 2 OT (Oct. 22)
• Last season: Split four regular season games; Tampa won second-round playoff series 4-0
• All-time regular season series: Florida leads 73-49-19, 10 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday vs. Seattle Kraken, 6 p.m.