Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers Try for 10 Straight against New Jersey Devils
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers look to extend their winning streak to 10 games against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
And they will be doing so with the same lineup they have been running with since Jonah Gadjovich slid in for the injured Nick Cousins on Jan. 4.
But all throughout the streak, they have been sticking to what’s been working.
“I think everything is kind of clicking,” Carter Verhaeghe said.
”Special teams has been huge, the power play has been really important for us, and we’re just trying to build our game and get it to a spot where we can compete where we like.”
And they’ve brought it against some of the league’s best teams.
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Since they started their streak against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 23, the Panthers secured six wins over teams currently in a playoff spot.
And that includes two wins over the defending champs.
”Anytime you play a good team, i’s a good measuring stick and it’s kind of a challenge for us,” Verhaeghe said.
“And I think the kind of games that we play our best is when there’s a challenge and there’s a lot of emotion in the game, especially against Vegas and Tampa. I think that kind of feeds into how we play.”
The Devils, while currently sitting a point out of a wild card spot due to some injuries, will provide that kind of challenge.
“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
“They’ve got guys out, but they’re still playing the same game. They will make plays on entry and they are dynamic at it. There’s still four more passes coming in when you think a shot is coming in, ad they’re still good.”
GAME NOTES
Saturday night’s game has some All-Star Game ramifications.
If the Panthers win and the Boston Bruins lose to the St. Louis Blues tonight, Paul Maurice will be named a coach at the All-Star Game.
Any other result would sent Boston coach Jim Montgomery to All-Star weekend for the second-straight year.
The starting goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky and Nico Daws.
ON DECK
NEW JERSEY DEVILS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM 2;WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
- Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-190); Puck line (-1.5, +120); Over/Under 6.5 (+100/-125)
- Season Series (Florida leads 1-0) — At New Jersey: Panthers 4, Devils 3 (October 16); March 15. At Florida:Saturday.
- Last Season: Florida won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Devils lead 57-36-7, 7 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Monday vs. Anaheim, 1 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (27-12-2) LINES
17 Evan Rodrigues // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 94 Ryan Lomberg
67 Will Lockwood//82 Kevin Stenlund // 12 Jonah Gadjovich
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour
91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
41 Anthony Stolarz
Injured: Nick Cousins (concussion)
Scratched: Josh Mahura, Steven Lorentz
PROJECTED NEW JERSEY DEVILS (21-15-3) LINES
56 Erik Haula // 13 Nico Hischier // 91 Dawson Mercer
73 Tyler Toffoli // 20 Michael McLeod // 63 Jesper Bratt
11 Chris Tierney // 42 Curtis Lazar // 10 Alexander Holtz
46 Max Willman // 15 Shane Bowers // 14 Nathan Bastian
2 Brendan Smith // 17 Simon Nemec
43 Luke Hughes // 6 John Marino
24 Colin Miller // 88 Kevin Bahl
50 Nico Daws
41 Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Cal Foote
Injured: Dougie Hamilton (pectoral), Tomas Nosek (foot), Timo Meier (undisclosed), Ondrej Palat (lower body), Jack Hughes (upper body), Jonas Siegenthaler (broken foot)
New Jersey Devils lines courtesy NHL.com
