Panthers @ Blackhawks: Lines, Betting Odds, Goalies, How to Watch

One week after Anthony Stolarz made his debut for the Florida Panthers, he will be back in net when they face the host Chicago Blackhawks tonight.

Stolarz made 27 saves in a 3-1 win against the (still) winless San Jose Sharks.

Tonight should be more of a challenge.

The Blackhawks are likely to come into the night an angry bunch after losing four of their past five games — including 8-1 at the hands of the Coyotes in Tempe on Monday.

Chicago has had a lot of time to stew on that one.

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“They have had a bunch of days off,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, “and that can be really good, or really bad. We want to make sure our legs are right.”

By virtue of Stolarz starting tonight, it is all but assured Sergei Bobrovsky — who made 22 saves in a 2-0 shutout in Detroit on Thursday — plays Monday at home against Columbus.

To be fair, this was the plan all along.

Rarely do you see a goalie take the night off a game after a shutout, but with the Panthers having two of their next three games away from home, this is a good chance to give Bobrovsky a break and get Stolarz a quality start.

Maurice noted on Saturday that Stolarz “prepped real hard in practice and pushed his body knowing he wasn’t playing in Detroit but he was playing the next one.’’

GAME NOTES

Although the Panthers held an optional skate on Saturday, FloridaPanthers.com reporter Jameson Olive noted in Friday’s practice that Maurice was keeping the bottom line switch he made Thursday intact with Kevin Stenlund moving up to center the third line.

Eetu Luostarinen started the game as the third-line center but is back on the left wing with Stenlund centering and Nick Cousins on the right side.

Steven Lorentz is centering Ryan Lomberg and Will Lockwood.

— Tonight will be the first time Florida faces Chicago phenom Connor Bedard.

The top overall pick by the lottery-winning Blackhawks, Bedard has four goals and six points thus far. He comes into the night with goals in three of his past four games.

“He is special and exciting to watch,” Maurice said. “I am really happy he is in the West.’’

The Blackhawks held the highest odds to win the draft lottery but dropped to third when they beat the host Penguins back on April 11.

That win clinched a playoff spot for the Panthers — and being third, turned out to be the winning slot for the Blackhawks.

— The starting goalies: Lorentz against Petr Mrazek.

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

• When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
• Where: United Center, Chicago
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM; 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/Panthers App
• DraftKings odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-205); Puck line (-1.5, +124); Over/Under 6.5 (-125/+105)
• Last Season: Tied 1-1
• This season: @Chicago, Saturday; @Florida, Sunday Nov. 12
• All-time regular season series: Blackhawks lead 28-18-4, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Monday vs. Columbus, 7 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (5-3-1) LINES

17 Evan Rodrigues // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 15 Anton Lundell // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 21 Nick Cousins

94 Ryan Lomberg // 18 Steven Lorentz // 67 Will Lockwood

42 Gus Forsling // 91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

28 Josh Mahura // 26 Uvis Balinksins

41 Anthony Stolarz

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Mike Reilly, Rasmus Asplund

Injured: Aaron Ekblad (LTIR-shoulder), Brandon Montour (IR-shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (UBI), Sam Bennett (LBI)

PROJECTED CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (3-6-0) LINES

17 Nick Foligno // 98 Connor Bedard // 23 Philipp Kurashev

27 Lukas Reichel // 89 Andreas Athanasiou // 11 Taylor Raddysh

71 Taylor Hall // 17 Jason Dickinson // 90  Tyler Johnson

8 Ryan Donato // 58 MacKenzie Entwistle // 94 Corey Perry

55 Kevin Korchinski // 4 Seth Jones

25 Jarred Tinordi // 5 Connor Murphy

44 Wyatt Kaiser // 22 Nikita Zaitsev

34 Petr Mrazek

40 Arvid Soderblom

Scratched: Boris Katchouk, Isaak Phillips