The Florida Panthers will look to continue their recent winning ways when they host one of their biggest rivals on Monday night.
Florida has won three straight games and eight of their past 10, and on Saturday made a move to acquire elite blueliner Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Now the Panthers, who enter play Monday one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division, will continue their homestand with a matchup against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bolts have won each of their past eight games and haven’t lost in regulation since late January, an impressive 9-0-1 stretch that has propelled Tampa from a tie for the final Wild Card spot to being eight points clear of that same spot and threatening to get into the mix for the division title.
Over their past four outings, the Lightning have really clamped down on their opponents, outscoring Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary and Washington by a combined score of 14-3.
They’ll likely face an excited and amped up Panthers team.
Jones will be in South Florida on Monday and could very well end up in the Panthers lineup against Tampa Bay.
Who he’s ultimately paired up with and how well he integrates into Paul Maurice’s systems remains to be seen.
Still, the excitement infused in Florida’s quest to repeat is undeniable.
It should all add up to a great matchup of two rivals who have often treated to some exciting and entertaining hockey games.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Monday’s matchup with Tampa Bay:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Dmitry Kulikov
Scratches: Nate Schmidt
Caption for photo at top of page: Apr 29, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) celebrates a short-handed goal with center Sam Reinhart (13) and defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period in game five of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)
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