The red-hot Florida Panthers (23-12-2) are in Sin City looking to complete a season-series sweep against the Vegas Golden Knights (21-8-5). To achieve that goal, the Cats will have to do something they’ve never done before… win at T-Mobile Arena. Florida beat the Golden Knights 4-2 on December 23 and followed that up with victories over the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes to build a five-game winning streak. Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Gustav Forsling got the goals and Sergei Bobrovksy stopped 21 of 22 shots against the Desert Dogs to kick off the four-game road trip on a positive note.
The reeling Golden Knights are having a hard time of it right now, dropping five of its last six games. After going winless on a four-game road trip, the defending champs were able to post a big 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on home ice before they were blanked 3-0 by Joey Daccord and the Seattle Kraken at the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day. Jack Eichel leads Vegas in scoring with 40 points and former Panther Jonathan Marchessault’s 17 goals are team-best.
- WHEN: 10:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: T-Mobile Arena – Paradise, NV
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Scripps
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #VegasBorn, #FLAvsVGK, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Knights On Ice
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (1-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 4, VGK 2 – (Recap) 12/23/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup or 2024-25 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (18-9-1 .912 / 2.44 2SO) / Vegas: Thompson (11-7-3 .902 / 2.81 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Vegas
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Pittsburgh (18-14-4 36P) at BOSTON (23-7-6 52P) 7 p.m. (ESPN)
- BUFFALO (15-19-4 34P) at MONTREAL (16-16-5 37P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (18-16-5 41P) at Minnesota (16-16-4 36P) 8 p.m.
- OTTAWA (14-19-0 28P) at Seattle (15-14-9 39P) 10 p.m.
- DETROIT (18-16-4 40P) at Los Angeles (20-9-5 45P) 10:30 p.m.
Idle: TOR (45P)