GameDay 39: Lineups, Betting Odds for Panthers at Flames

Well, we know what the Florida Panthers can do on home ice — and it’s pretty impressive — but we are about to find out if their current run will carry over on the road against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

Florida has won seven consecutive home games and have been victorious in eight of its past nine overall.

That includes a 4-3 overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.

In the seven home games, Florida has outscored its opponents 45-15.

“We feel great. I think we kind of established that dominance at home and we are just having fun with it every single day,’’ MacKenzie Weegar said.

“When we come to the rink, everyone is having fun and I think we realized how good we are and how fast we can skate. We just really established that at home and it’s a great feeling.”

Since returning from an extended holiday break due to Covid, the Panthers have gone 8-0-1 and are outscoring their opposition 54-23.

To say the Panthers are rolling is quite the understatement.

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But, can they do this on the road?

Tuesday’s game in Calgary kicks off what is scheduled to be a five-game road trip with stops in Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle and Winnipeg yet to come.

“We know it’s going to get tougher but we also want to enjoy the different moments, and I think they’re having a lot of fun right now,’’ coach Andrew Brunette said.

The Panthers took advantage of having a few days off between Saturday’s 9-2 win over the Blue Jackets and Tuesday’s game.

The team flew west on Sunday morning and instead of camping out in Calgary, went to Bamff to be able to enjoy some team bonding in the Canadian Rockies with some dog sledding.

That’s something you can’t do in Florida.

Anthony Duclair and Radko Gudas pose with their four-legged friends before trying out some dog sledding in Bamff, Alberta, on Monday. // Photo courtesy @aduclair10 Instagram

“This group is an extremely tight group,’’ Brunette said. “I’ve had people that just watch them on TV, who aren’t even around them every day, telling me, ‘Hey, you can tell your group loves to play together.’

That’s a huge compliment for a coach, for an organization and for a fanbase to pick up on the love they have for each other. The joy … it just builds. When you’re as connected as a group as they are, they bring it upon themselves to get better.”

The Panthers will make a lineup change with Maxim Mamin now off the 23-man roster (he is now on the Taxi Squad) and Owen Tippett back from Charlotte.

Florida is expected to start Sergei Bobrovsky in net although after the long flight could go with Spencer Knight.

Sam Bennett gets to face his former teammates after he missed the meeting between the two teams in Sunrise after he was serving the first game of a three-game suspension.

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT CALGARY FLAMES

• When: Tuesday, 9 p.m.
• Where: The Saddledome; Calgary, AB
• Tickets: CLICK HERE
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM, SiriusXM
• NHL Betting Odds from FanDuel: Florida favored (Puck Line -1.5 +164) — (Money Line -152) — Over/Under 6.5 (-132/+108)
• Last season: Did not play 
• All-time regular season series: Calgary leads 21-11-3, 3 ties
• This season: @Florida 6, Calgary 2, Feb. 4

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

11 Jonathan Huberdeau // 8 Sam Bennett // 10 Anthony Duclair

77 Frank Vatrano // 15 Anton Lundell // 74 Owen Tippett

94 Ryan Lomberg // 27 Eetu Luostarinen // 70 Patric Hornqvist

52 MacKenzie Weegar // 5 Aaron Ekblad

42 Gus Forsling // 7 Radko Gudas

4 Olli Juolevi // 62 Brandon Montour

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

Scratched: Lucas Carlsson, Joe Thornton, Mason Marchment

Taxi squad: Evan Fitzpatrick, Maxim Mamin, Aleksi Heponiemi

Injured: Noel Acciari (LTIR), Markus Nutivaara (LTIR)

Covid Protocol: Jonas Johansson

PROJECTED CALGARY FLAMES LINEUP

13 Johnny Gaudreau // 28 Elias Lindholm // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

20 Blake Coleman // 11 Mikael Backlund // 18 Tyler Pitlick

88 Andrew Mangiapane // 29 Dillon Dube // 24 Brett Ritchie

17 Milan Lucic // 23 Sean Monahan // 22 Trevor Lewis

55 Noah Hanifin // 4 Rasmus Andersson

58 Oliver Kylington // 8 Chris Tanev

16 Nikita Zadorov // 44 Erik Gudbranson

25 Jacob Markstrom

80 Daniel Vladar

Calgary Flames lines courtesy DailyFaceoff.com