Panthers @ Kraken: Lines, Goalies, Odds, How 2 Watch

The Florida Panthers will kick off the Western portion of their five-game road trip with a clash with the Seattle Kraken.

Florida kicked off its road trip with a 5-2 win in Columbus before completing its trek to the Pacific Northwest for a four-game, eight-day voyage in the cold December weather.

“Any time you change time zones a couple of times and play a lot of games on the road, it’s a grind,” Carter Verhaeghe said.

“But it’s always fun being around the guys and having some team bonding. That’s the biggest thing you can take away from it: It brings us all closer.”

The win in Columbus has certainly helped warm up their spirits as well.

“If we started the other way around, it definitely makes it a lot harder,” Verhaeghe said.

“Everyone is feeling a little better now and it’s more fun coming to the rink playing hockey and doing what we love.  It’s awesome that we got the first one.”

Despite what Seattle’s record says, the Panthers will have a bit of a challenge to deal with on Tuesday night.

The Kraken are going to have a lot of motivation coming off of an eight-game losing streak, and they are better than their record suggests.

Last season, they made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, tallying 100 points in the regular season and defeating the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

They play a game featuring a lot of speed, headlined by last year’s Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers and former Panther Jared McCann.

“Road trips are tough, especially with these teams that we’re playing. It’s another tough building here,” Brandon Montour said. “I think they’ve lost a few in a row, so I think they want to answer for themselves and their fans. It should be a tough test.”

GAME NOTES

Sergei Bobrovsky will start between the pipes against Joey Daccord.

Josh Mahura has been cleared to play, per Paul Maurice, but will not draw into the lineup.

Uvis Balinskis will remain in on the bottom pair while Dmitry Kulikov will be a healthy scratch for the second-straight game.

ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ SEATTLE KRAKEN 

• When: Tuesday, 10 p.m.
• Where: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-165); Puck line (-1.5, +145); Over/Under 6.5 (+105/-125)
• This Season (Florida Leads 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 3, Kraken 2 (Oct.28). At Seattle: Tuesday.
• Last Season: Tied 1-1
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Seattle leads 3-2-0
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday at Vancouver, 10

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (17-8-2) LINES

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

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

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 21 Nick Cousins

12 Jonah Gadjovich // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 94 Ryan Lomberg

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 26 Uvis Balinskis

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Dmitry Kulikov, Josh Mahura, Steven Lorentz

Injured: None

PROJECTED SEATTLE KRAKEN (8-14-7) LINES

19 Jared McCann // 10 Matty Beniers // 7 Jordan Eberle

52 Ty Kartye // 21 Alex Wennberg // 13 Brandon Tanev

20 Eeli Tolvanen // 37 Yanni Gourde // 22 Oliver Bjorkstrand

94 Devin Shore // 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare // 56 Kailer Yamamoto

29 Vince Dunn // 6 Adam Larsson

24 Jamie Oleskiak // 3 William Borgen

Ryker Evans // 8 Brian Dumoulin

35 Joey Daccord

60 Chris Driedger