Graphic design: Francisco Oporta
Florida Panthers (19-11-2) will finish its grueling five-game road trip and conclude the season series when they face the Minnesota Wild (20-7-4) tonight at Xcel Energy Center.
The Panthers got multi-point performances from Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and Anton Lundell to end a two-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Jesper Boqvist’s first career shorthanded goal ended Florida’s two-game scoring drought and Verhaeghe’s notched the game-winner with 6:55 remaining in regulation. Florida will look to avenge a 5-1 loss to Minnesota in the first meeting between the two teams this season.
The Wild enter the fourth of a five-game homestand alternating wins and losses over their last six contests. On Sunday, Kirill Kaprizov’s brace wasn’t enough as Minnesota fell 3-2 to the Vergas Golden Knights in goaltender’s Jesper Wallstedt’s first start of the season. Kaprizov is up to 22 goals and his 47 points have him tied for second in the league in scoring. With Filip Gustavsson (lower body) still sidelined, Marc-Andre Fleury will get the start.
- WHEN: 9:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, MN
- ON THE TUBE: TNT, MAX, FDSNNO
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #mnwild, #FLAvsMIN, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Hockey Wilderness
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: MIN 5, @FLA 1 (Recap) – 10/22/2024
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup Final or 2025-26 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (14-6-1 .889 / 2.97 1SO) Minnesota: Fleury (6-1-1 .909 / 2.84 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Minnesota
Wednesday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Philadelphia (14-13-4 32P) at DETROIT (12-14-4 30P) 7 p.m. (TNT)
- TORONTO (19-10-2 40P) at Dallas (19-11-0 38P) 7:30 p.m.
Idle: BOS (37P), TBL (36P) OTT (34P), MON (27P), BUF (26P)
