Rangers at Panthers, Game 3: Welcome Home to Sunrise. Maybe

The Florida Panthers are back home today as they play host to the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final.

Today’s game starts around 3 p.m. with a national television audience on ABC.

The Panthers are certainly happy to be back in the sunny confines of Sunrise after spending most of the past week in New York.

The Panthers have, believe it or not, been better on the road than at home this postseason.

Florida went 3-0 in Sunrise against the Lightning, but just 1-2 against Boston in the second round. The Panthers are 5-2 away from home thus far.

And, at times, it may sound like a road crowd today what with the influx of both local and fans flying in from the New York metro area cheering on the Rangers.

Florida dealt with that last year against Boston and Toronto in the first two rounds and do not really mind.

“I certainly understand it. Why wouldn’t you want to be in South Florida?,” Paul Maurice said before Game 3. “It seems to be the trend.

“And I would say it is going to be less this year. We noticed that during the regular season. But during the regular season last year, we played some road games at home. Then it disappeared. There will be lots of Panthers fan tonight.’’

GAME NOTES

Florida’s penalty kill has been terrific this series, holding the Rangers scoreless in six attempts.

New York had the top power play in the NHL both during the regular season as well as the first two rounds of this postseason.

The Rangers have 10 shots on goal with the man advantage in the first two games.

“There haven’t been long power-play flurries where you’re under siege,” Maurice said on Saturday. “They had one good shot off the flank last game, but the penalty kill for both teams has been outstanding.”

— The Rangers will be without Jimmy Vesey after he took a hit from Ryan Lomberg in the left shoulder on Friday night.

Vesey is considered day-to-day.

New York coach Peter Laviolette did not talk lineups Sunday, but Kaapo Kakko is expected to return in place of Vesey today. He was a healthy scratch in Game 2 to allow Matt Rempe to join the lineup.

Blake Wheeler, out since Feb. 15 with a leg injury, could be back as well.

Florida will have no line changes.

— The starting goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Igor Shesterkin.

— The Rangers recalled a number of players from AHL Hartford.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

FLORIDA PANTHERS (ATL1) V. NEW YORK RANGERS (MET1)

Best-of-7 Series Tied 1-1

GAME 3

• When: Sunday, 3 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: ABC
• Streaming: ESPN+/Hulu
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; 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 app
• Local Betting Odds — Panthers favored: Money Line (-150); Puck line (-1.5, +165); Over/Under 5.5 (+105/-135). Series Florida -175
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 3, @New York 0; Game 2: @New York 2, Florida 1 OT; Game 3: New York at Florida, Sunday 3 (ABC); Game 4: New York at Florida, Tuesday 8 (ESPN): Game 5: Florida at New York, Thursday 8 (ESPN); Game 6*: New York at Florida, Saturday June 1, 8 (ABC); Game 7*: Florida at New York, Monday June 3, 8 (ESPN). (*) — If Necessary.
• How They Got Here: Florida d. Tampa Bay 4-1, Boston 4-2; Rangers d. Washington 4-0, Carolina 4-2.
• Last Season vs. Rangers — Regular Season: Rangers won 3-0
• This Season (Panthers Won 2-1) — At Florida: Panthers 4 Rangers 3 (Dec. 29). At MSG: Panthers 4, Rangers 2 (March 4); Rangers 4, Panthers 3 OT (March 23).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Rangers lead 61-34-8, 6 ties
• Postseason History: Rangers Lead 1-0 (1997 1st)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-1) LINES

10 Vladimir Tarasenko // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

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

23 Eetu Luostarinen // 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues

21 Nick Cousins // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 94 Ryan Lomberg

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola //  62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Kyle Okposo, Steven Lorentz, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, Will Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif, Patrick Giles

PROJECTED NEW YORK RANGERS (1-1) LINES

20 Chris Kreider // 93 Mika Zibanejad // 72 Filip Chytil

10 Artemi Panarin // 16 Vincent Trocheck // 13 Alexis Lafreniere

96 Jack Roslovic // 91 Alex Wennberg // 24 Kaapo Kakko

50 Will Cuylle // 21 Barclay Goodrow // 73 Matt Rempe

55 Ryan Lindgren // 23 Adam Fox

79 K’Andre Miller // 8 Jacob Trouba

56 Erik Gustafsson // 4 Braden Schneider

31 Igor Shesterkin

30 Jonathan Quick

Scratched: Zac Jones, Chad Ruhwedel, Jonny Brodzinski, Adam Edstrom, Blake Wheeler, Alex Belzile, Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, Ben Harpur, Dylan Garand, Jake Leschyshyn, Connor Mackey, Victor Mancini, Brennan Othmann, Tyler Pitlick, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, Adam Sykora

Injured: Jimmy Vesey (shoulder)

New York Rangers Lines Courtesy NHL.Com