GameDay 54: Lineups, Betting Odds for Senators at Panthers

The Florida Panthers have less than three weeks before the NHL Trade Deadline but should be getting some defensive help soon when Petteri Lindbohm reports in the coming days.

Lindbohm officially signed with the Panthers on Tuesday after passing through waivers. He reportedly agreed to join the team on Monday.

After spending this season playing for his hometown Jokerit team in Helsinki, Lindbohm will have to get a U.S. work visa before joining the Panthers, something that could take a week.

On Wednesday, coach Andrew Brunette said the plan was for Lindbohm to join the Panthers and not the team’s AHL team in Charlotte.

Brunette said the team hoped he could be here by the weekend.

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“I saw him play in St. Louis for my old job and saw him come up through the minors,’’ Brunette said. “I caught a glimpse of him at the Olympics so we’re excited to see him and see how he does here. It should be good. He’s got some experience, has been over here and we’re kind of curious and excited to see what we have.”

Anton Lundell recently played with Lindbohm at the 2021 World Championships and said he sent a text welcoming his friend to the Panthers.

“He is a really funny guy and will fit really well here,” Lundell said. “He is a big, strong d-man who can move the puck well and he plays well. He has a good two-way game. He is really strong in the d-zone and can make plays as well. He sees the game, reads it fast.

“I texted him when I saw the news, I said ‘welcome’ and I’m looking forward to getting him here and I think he will like it here. He is really excited. He can help out the team.’’

HUBERDEAU ANTHEM

For the second consecutive game and third time this season, Josiane Huberdeau will perform the two national anthems before Thursday night’s tilt with the Senators.

The younger sister of Jonathan also performed before Florida’s game with Montreal on Jan. 1 and on Saturday afternoon.

Jonathan Huberdeau says he always gets real nervous seeing his sister on such a grand stage.

But she always kills it.

”She is really good,” Jonathan said. “I think she does a great job. I’m always a little nervous and I don’t know why. I’m always worried she will miss a lyric or something. She does a tremendous job and it’s obviously special. We used to encourage her to do it and now she’s asking me if she can do it.”

CHARLOTTE KNIGHT

Spencer Knight was terrific on Wednesday night as he made 44 saves in leading the Charlotte Checkers to a 3-0 win over the host Hershey Bears.

It was the second shutout in nine career AHL games for Knight; he has two of Charlotte’s three shutouts this season with the injured Chris Gibson getting the other.

Logan Hutsko gave Charlotte the 1-0 lead Knight needed with Owen Tippett and Zac Dalpe getting empty net goals to secure the win.

Hershey outshot the Checkers 44-28 and went 0-for-5 on the power play.

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

OTTAWA SENATORS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise 
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM/SiriusXM
• FanDuel odds — Florida favored: Money Line (-420); Puck line (-2.5, +110); Over/Under 6.5 (-140/+114)
• Last season: Did not play
  
• All-time regular season series: Ottawa leads 56-40-4, ties
• This season — Ottawa leads 1-0: Ottawa 8, @Florida 2 (Dec. 14)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 17 Mason Marchment

11 Jonathan Huberdeau // 9 Sam Bennett // 10 Anthony Duclair

77 Frank Vatrano  // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

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

52 MacKenzie Weegar // 5 Aaron Ekblad

42 Gus Forsling // 7 Radko Gudas

32 Lucas Carlsson // 62 Brandon Montour

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

35 Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Noel Acciari, Olli Juolevi, Maxim Mamin

Injured: Markus Nutivaara (LTIR), Joe Thornton (IR)

PROJECTED OTTAWA SENATORS LINEUP

7 Brady Tkachuk // 9 Josh Norris // 13 Zach Sanford

10 Alex Formenton // 18 Tim Stutzle // 28 Connor Brown

21 Nick Paul // 36 Colin White // 63 Tyler Ennis

45 Parker Kelly // 27 Dylan Gambrell // 16 Austin Watson

72 Thomas Chabot // 22 Nikita Zaitsev

5 Nick Holden // 2 Artem Zub

29 Dillon Heatherington // 98 Victor Mete

31 Anton Forsberg

30 Matt Murray

Ottawa Senators lines courtesy DailyFaceoff.com