George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers kick off 2025 against an old rival with the Carolina Hurricanes in town.
The Panthers snapped a two-game scoreless streak with a 5-3 win over the Rangers on Monday night.
Carolina is coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets on New Year’s Eve and have lost four of six.
Florida has won both games against Carolina this season, winning a back-to-back set after Thanksgiving by a 12-3 combined score.
The Panthers are expected to run their same lineup that beat the Rangers.
Mackie Samoskevich is back on the top power-play unit for the first time since he had to go down to AHL Charlotte for cap reasons last month.
NOTES: PANTHERS V. HURRICANES
- Tyson Jost, who centers Carolina’s fourth line, was knocked out of Tuesday’s game in Columbus with an apparent knee injury, The Hurricanes called up 26-year-old Juha Jääskä from the Chicago Wolves, and he will make his NHL debut tonight.
- Niko Mikkola will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Paul Maurice said he could be back soon.
- The Hurricanes sent former Florida defenseman Riley Stillman back to AHL Chicago.
- Starting Goalies: Florida will go with Sergei Bobrovsky tonight. The Hurricanes will start Pyotr Kochetkov.
- How to Watch: Today’s game is on local television and will be streamed on Panthers+ as well as ESPN+ outside of the Florida viewing territory. In the Carolinas, the game is on FanDuel.
- NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are slight favorites at the local book. Florida is -125 on the money line against the Hurricanes. So, to cash on the Panthers to win, a $125 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 39
CAROLINA HURRICANES AT FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
- 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 — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-125); Puck line (-1.5, +180); Over/Under 5.5 (-115/-105)
- Last Season: Carolina Won 2-1
- This Season (Panthers Lead 2-0) — At Florida: Panthers 6, Hurricanes 0 (Nov.30); Thursday. At Carolina: Panthers 6, Hurricanes 3 (Nov. 29).
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 73-49-10, 11 ties
- Postseason History: Florida 1-0 (2023 ECF)
- Up Next for the Panthers: Friday vs. Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (23-13-2) LINES
17 Evan Rodrigues // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 AJ Greer // 94 Tomas Nosek // 25 Mackie Samoskevich
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
7 Dmitry Kulikov // 34 Adam Boqvist
88 Nate Schmidt // 26 Uvis Balinskis
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
30 Spencer Knight
Scratched: None
Injured: Niko Mikkola (upper body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
PROJECTED CAROLINA HURRICANES (22-13-2) LINES
24 Seth Jarvis // 20 Sebastian Aho // 96 Jack Roslovic
37 Andrei Svechnikov // 82 Jesperi Kotkaniemi // 88 Martin Necas
48 Jordan Martinook // 11 Jordan Staal // 28 William Carrier
50 Eric Robinson // 54 Juha Jääskä // 53 Jackson Blake
74 Jaccob Slavin // 8 Brent Burns
7 Dmitry Orlov // 5 Jalen Chatfield
42 Ty Smith // 26 Sean Walker
52 Pyotr Kochetkov
34 Dustin Tokarski
Scratched: None.
Injured: Tyson Jost (lower body), Frederik Andersen (knee), Jack Drury (hand), Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body)