SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers will try to turn turkey into two points when they host the Calgary Flames in a post-Thanksgiving battle at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday at 4 p.m. ET.
The Panthers sit at 12-10-1, while the Flames are last in the Pacific Division at 8-14-3.
Although the Panthers aren’t currently in a playoff spot, they sit just two points out of one.
“November, December, the desperation just starts to come into the games,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the importance of early-season points following Thursday’s practice. “Every game starts to get really big for teams like us who are on the outside looking in.”
Winners in six of their last 10 games, the Panthers enter today’s game looking to rebound from a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday that truly came down to the wire.
Tied 2-2 with less than a minute left in regulation, Tyson Foerster scored what would go on to hold up as the game-winning goal for Philadelphia, which had trailed 2-0 earlier in the game.
For the Panthers, Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe scored the goals.
“Those things do even out,” Maurice said. “You’re going to win a bunch of games where the other team’s better than you and you’re pretty happy with surviving it. … I don’t think we look back at it and say, ‘It was close. We were right there.’”
Marchand leads the Panthers in scoring with 26 points (14G, 12A), while Sam Reinhart ranks second with 21 points (13G, 8A). Anton Lundell is third in scoring with 18 points (6G, 12A) and is also winning a team-high 53.6% of his faceoffs as the team’s top-line center.
Over his last two games, Verhaeghe has logged five points (2G, 3A).
“Our line is playing pretty well,” the sniper said. “We’re getting in on the forecheck, getting some action. Sometimes it comes; sometimes it doesn’t. We’re trying to keep it going.”
After losing eight of their first nine games to start the season, the Flames have started to find their footing a bit, winning three of their last four games while scoring 15 total goals.
That said, they enter today’s tilt on the heels of a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
Essentially out of the game before they even knew what hit them, the Flames gave up three goals to the Lightning withing the first 5:52 of the first period. Following the third goal – which came on the Lightning’s fourth shot -- Dustin Wolf was replaced by Devin Cooley.
As of Thursday, Calgary is averaging the fewest goals per game in the NHL (2.32).
Nazem Kadri leads the Flames in scoring with 18 points (4G, 14A), while Rasmus Andersson ranks second and leads the team’s defensemen with 16 points (5G, 11A).
Matt Coronato sits third with 14 points and has scored a team-leading eight goals.
Last season, the Panthers and Flames split their two-game season series, with each team securing a 3-0 win at home. Over the course of those two games, Evan Rodrigues and Sam Bennett led the Panthers with two points each, with five others cracking the scoresheet.
“They’d won three in a row going into that, got off to a tough start, and then kind of leveled the game after that,” Maurice said when asked about the Flames tough night against the Lightning. “We don’t ever take a look at it and say they lost three and this should be easy.”
THEY SAID IT
“They played hard. We played a pretty hard game. It was back and forth all night. It just sucks to not come out on top of that.” – Seth Jones on Wednesday’s loss to the Flyers
“I liked the first two periods an awful lot. I thought it was a well played game. We were slow in the third on plays that cost us some zone time. We had a hard time boxing out in front of the net, but everything came from the top. A tough way to lose.” – Paul Maurice on Wednesday's loss to the Flyers
FIVE CATS STATS
- Florida’s 25.77 hits per 60 minutes pace all NHL teams through Thanksgiving.
- The Panthers own an 8-4-1 record at home this season.
- Carter Verhaeghe is one of seven active NHL players with three Stanley Cups.
- The Panthers are 5-0-0 when A.J. Greer scores a goal.
- Brad Marchand has scored a team-leading four goals in the first period.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
FORWARDS
Mackie Samoskevich – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – A.J. Greer
Luke Kunin – Noah Gregor – Jack Devine
DEFENSEMEN
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry
Goaltenders
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Nov. 19: F Jack Devine was recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Oct. 27: D Tobias Bjornfot reassigned to Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Friday, November 28 at 4 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: WSFL, WHDT, WFTX, PanthersPlus.TV
Radio: 104.3 WQAM-FM (Dade/Broward); 106.3 WESP-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); Panthers GameDay App; SiriusXM 221/App & Streaming 931
Tickets: Click here
