Florida Panthers
How to Watch Brad Marchand Make Debut with Panthers v Utah
FORT LAUDERDALE — There was a lot of energy at Friday’s morning skate, and a lot of it had to do with Brad Marchand making his debut with the Florida Panthers tonight when they play host to the Utah Hockey Club.
Marchand has been out since being slammed up against the boards March 1 in Boston against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He was traded to the Panthers a few days later.
Paul Maurice said Marchand is “expected” to play for the Panthers tonight but extras Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek would not have been skated after the workout if there was any doubt Marchand would be ready to go.
The buzz of morning skate should certainly be amplified tonight in Sunrise.
“Everyone is going to watch everything he does,’’ Maurice said. “Fans, but players on the bench, too. You see it during practice when Brad did something with the puck or scores a goal, everyone on the ice saw it.’’
Marchand has gotten to know the Panthers pretty well in the three weeks he has been with them, although there are others he knows more than others.
A.J. Greer said he was excited to hear his friend was joining the Panthers and cannot wait to see what happens tonight.
“He has been in big situations and everyone respects him,’’ said Greer, who spent the 2022-23 season with Marchand and the Bruins.
“He is really acclimated to the kind of game we play so, for us, we’re just going to let him do his thing. We know he is going to have success here. He is built for what we have, he is built for the game that we play.’’
Said Jesper Boqvist: “When you are out there, all you want to do is win — and he will be that guy for us. We’re so happy to have him. It’s going to be unreal to watch him. He is awesome, and he is still going strong.’’
NOTES: UTAH @ PANTHERS
- How to Watch: Tonight’s game is on local TV and can be streamed locally on Panthers+. Since NHL Network is also showing the game nationally, it will not be streamed on ESPN+.
- Starting Goalies: Florida will have Sergei Bobrovsky in net; Bob is 6-2-0 this month with three shutouts and a 1.50/.935. Jaxson Stauber was sent back to AHL Tucson after replacing Karel Vejmelka during last night’s 8-0 loss at Tampa.
- NHL Betting Odds: The local book has Florida as a pretty big favorite (-275) on the money line. To win with the Panthers, a $275 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 72
UTAH HOCKEY CLUB at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Friday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- National TV: NHL Network
- Local Streaming Only: Panthers+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
- Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-275); Florida Puck line (-1.5, +100); Over/Under 5.5 (-120/+100)
- Season Series (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Utah: Panthers 4, Utah 1 (Jan. 8). At Florida: Friday.
- Last Season vs. Arizona Coyotes: Florida Won 2-0
- All-time Regular Season Series vs. Coyotes/Utahs: Florida leads 22-20-0, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday vs. Montreal Canadiens, 1 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (43-25-3) LINES
25 Mackie Samoskevich // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
23 Carter Verhaeghe// 9 Sam Bennett // 63 Brad Marchand
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 A.J. Greer // 8 Nico Sturm // 17 Evan Rodrigues
42 Gus Forsling // 3 Seth Jones
77 Niko Mikkola // 88 Nate Schmidt
26 Uvis Balinskis // 4 Toby Bjornfot
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
41 Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body/LTIR), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body)
PROJECTED UTAH HOCKEY CLUB (32–29-11) LINES
9 Clayton Keller // 92 Logan Cooley // 8 Nick Schmaltz
53 Michael Carcone // 27 Barrett Hayton // 11 Dylan Guenther
67 Lawson Crouse // 22 Jack McBain // 91 Josh Doan
15 Alexander Kerfoot // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 17 Nick Bjugstad
98 Mikhail Sergachev // 6 John Marino
28 Ian Cole // 50 Sean Durzi
2 Olli Maatta // 7 Michael Kesselring
70 Karel Vejmelka
31 Matt Villalta
Scratched: Mattias Maccelli, Nick DeSimone, Kailer Yamamoto
Injured: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Liam O’Brien (lower body)
Utah Hockey Club Lines Courtesy NHL.com
