"We were relentless," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said of the team's recent play. "We kind of got in that wave after wave of every line bringing it and playing fast, playing in your face."
Taking care of business against Calgary, Patric Hornqvist scored a pair of goals, Anthony Duclair, Joe Thornton, Ryan Lomberg and Lucas Carlsson each lit the lamp once, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 47 saves -- including stopping all 35 shots he faced in the first and second periods -- for the Panthers.
Riding their recent wave of success up the standings, the Panthers currently sit at 22-7-4 and trail the Lightning by just one point for the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a pair of games in hand.
But given that they've gone an outstanding 18-3-0 at home, the Panthers, who will play seven of their next 10 games away from Sunrise, know they'll need to start improving on their 4-4-4 record on the road when they kick off a two-game trip against the Stars at American Airlines Center on Thursday.
"For us, the focus is on our game," Brunette said. "We've been pretty average record-wise on the road. We've been really good at home, but we haven't really established our road game. Tonight's a step in doing that. Regardless of who the opponent is, we have to set the pace here on the road."
Named a "Star of the Week" for the second time this season on Monday, Jonathan Huberdeau, who is making a strong push for a spot at the All-Star Game, leads the Panthers in scoring with 42 points (11 goals, 31 assists) and has racked up nine points (one goal, eight assists) over his last three contests.
Since Nov. 26, Huberdeau leads the NHL in assists (19) and points (24) over 15 games.
"He's an MVP candidate," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said.
Making his third straight start, Sergei Bobrovsky will man the cage for the Panthers in Dallas. Owning a 15-3-2 record behind a 2.45 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner has had great success against the Stars during his career, winning 15 of his 18 starts.
"We've built an identity at home, and we want to bring it on the road," Brunette said.
After 17 days off, will the Stars be more rusty or rested?
Last playing competitively on Dec. 20 after having six contests postponed due to COVID-19, the team looked like it was in the early stages of an encouraging upswing before the pause. After dropping five games in a row, they'd cruised into the break fresh off consecutive wins over Chicago and Minnesota.
Although they sit at just 15-12-2 on the season, Dallas boasts a strong 11-3-1 record at home.
"They're in game shape, they're in game flow, so they're on top of their game and we need some time to find out where we are," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said when asked about the Panthers heading into tonight's matchup. "Hopefully on Thursday we're on top of our game and we're skating and managing the puck and we're doing all the things we did well against Chicago and Minnesota."
Joe Pavelski, who has registered 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 25 career games against Florida, leads the Stars in scoring with 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists), while Jason Robertson is second with 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists), and Roope Hintz is holding down third with 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists).
In 2020-21, Robertson scored a team-high five goals against the Panthers.
Manning the crease for the Stars in both their games before the pause, Jake Oettinger has posted a 7-2-0 record with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Owning an identical .922 save percentage, Braden Holtby has posted a mark of 5-7-1 on top of a 2.44 goals-against average.
Going 12-2-2 in his career against Florida, Holtby is expected to start tonight for the Stars.
"We're pretty familiar," Panthers forward Anthony Duclair said of Dallas. "We had some pretty good battles last year. They're obviously a really good team when they're healthy, and it looks like they've got all their guys tonight. We have a really big test in front of us, especially on this whole trip. We're going to be ready. We know they like to play hard at home, so our start is going to be really key."
Seeing a lot of each other last season, the Panthers went 6-2-0 against the Stars in 2020-21.
