GameDay No. 67: Lines, Betting Odds for Jets at Panthers

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers have not won four consecutive games since last season but can do so tonight when they play host to the struggling Winnipeg Jets.

Florida has won three straight just twice this season and know with only 16 games left, they will need to do much better than that.

“We have to go on a run, for sure,’’ coach Paul Maurice said after Friday night’s 4-3 comeback win in overtime against Chicago.

“The team that makes it is the team that goes on a run. Our record is pretty good since Jan. 1, I think the loss to the Rangers was the turn to our season and how hard we compete.”

Said Matthew Tkachuk: “Back-to-backs are fun when you win the first one. I forget who said this, but back-to-backs are the quickest way to get four points. Hopefully we can get two more and we need them.’’

The Panthers are expected to have Sergei Bobrovsky back in net as he plays his third set of back-to-backs this season.

After making 21 saves on Friday night, the Panthers are pretty sure Bobrovsky is more than ready to keep on going — especially with Florida off until playing host to Montreal on Thursday.

This will be the 10th consecutive start for Bobrovsky with Spencer Knight away from the team.

”We played one game coming into (Friday) and we have four days off,” Maurice said. “He is an old-schooler.”

Florida could also have Anthony Duclair back after he missed Friday’s game with an illness.

If not, Casey Fitzgerald would likely be back on the fourth line. He played just 3:12 on Friday night.

PANTHERS ON DECK

WINNIPEG JETS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• DraftKings odds — Panthers favored: Money Line (-130); Puck line (-1.5, +185); Over/Under 6.5 (-115/-105)
• This season (Winnipeg leads 1-0): Jets 5, Panthers 2 (Dec. 6)
• Last season: Florida won 2-0
• All-time regular season series: Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets lead 51-31-8, 5 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 16 Sasha Barkov // 10 Anthony Duclair

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

94 Ryan Lomberg // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

21 Nick Cousins // 12 Eric Staal // 6 Colin White

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

18 Marc Staal // 62 Brandon Montour

28 Josh Mahura // 7 Radko Gudas

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

34 Alex Lyon

Scratched: Casey Fitzgerald

Injured: Givani Smith (LTIR-face), Patric Hornqvist (LTIR-concussion)

PROJECTED WINNIPEG JETS LINEUP

81 Kyle Connor // 55 Mark Scheifele // 62 Nino Niederreiter

27 Nikolaj Ehlers // 7 Vladislav Namestnikov // 26 Blake Wheeler

36 Morgan Barron // 17 Adam Lowry // 22 Mason Appleton

19 David Gustafsson // 28 Kevin Stenlund // 8 Saku Maenalanen

44 Josh Morrissey // 2 Dylan Demelo

5 Brenden Dillon // 4 Neal Pionk

64 Logan Stanley // 88 Nate Schmidt

37 Connor Hellebuyck

33 David Rittich