How to Watch Ovechkin and the Capitals vs. Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers wrap up a weird six-game road trip today against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals with a chance to come home at .500.

The Panthers have been to Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and New York — then came home for a couple of days. They then got back after it in Columbus before finishing the deal today in D.C.

The Panthers are 2-3 thus far.

This matchup against the Capitals may be the most daunting.

Washington, with 100 points, has not only run away with the Metropolitan Division, but are the first team to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Capitals, 2-0 against the Panthers this season, have won three straight and eight of nine.

Ovechkin, of course, is seven goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record for goals scored. No. 8, fittingly, sits at 888.

NOTES: PANTHERS @ CAPITALS

• How to Watch: Tonight’s game is on local TV and can be streamed nationally on  ESPN+ and locally on Panthers+.
• Starting Goalies: Florida was expected to come back with Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 5-2 this month with three shutouts and a 1.30/.943. Instead, Vitek Vanecek got the call. Logan Thompson (30-4-5) is expected to start for the Capitals.
• NHL Betting Odds: The local book has tonight as a pick ‘em; To win with the Panthers, a $110 bet pays $100. Same goes for the Capitals.

ON DECK: GAME No. 70

FLORIDA PANTHERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS

• When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
• Where: Capital One Arena, Washington
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• 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 — Pick ‘Em: Money Line (-110/-110); Florida Puck line (-1.5, +200); Over/Under 5.5 (-115/-105)
• This Season (Capitals Lead 2-0) — At Washington: Capitals 6, Panthers 3 (Feb. 4); Saturday. At Florida: Capitals 4 Panthers 1 (Nov. 25).
• Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 68-48-13, 9 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday vs. Pittsburgh Penguins, 6 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (42-24-3) LINES

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

25 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist

10 A.J. Greer // 8 Nico Sturm // 12 Jonah Gadjovich

42 Gus Forsling // 3 Seth Jones

77 Niko Mikkola // 88 Nate Schmidt

26 Uvis Balinskis // 4 Toby Bjornfot

41 Vitek Vanecek

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Tomas Nosek

Suspended: Aaron Ekblad

Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body/LTIR), Brad Marchand (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body)

PROJECTED WASHINGTON CAPITALS (46-15-8) LINES

8 Alex Ovechkin // 80 Pierre-Luc Dubois // 21 Aliaksei Protas

24 Connor McMichael // 17 Dylan Strome // 43 Tom Wilson

88 Andrew Mangiapane // 20 Lars Eller // 16 Taylor Raddysh

22 Brandon Duhaime // 26 Nic Dowd // 72 Anthony Beauvillier

38 Rasmus Sandin // 74 John Carlson

6 Jakob Chychrun // 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk

42 Martin Fehervary // 3 Matt Roy

48 Logan Thompson

79 Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Dylan McIlrath, Alex Alexeyev, Ethen Frank

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper body)

Washington Capitals Lines Courtesy NHL.com