With the conclusion of the 4 Nations tournament this past Thursday, today kicks off the return of NHL action.
Our Panthers will take on the Seattle Kraken, and since it feels like a really long time since the Cats have taken the ice, here is a nice little recap of where Florida was before in-season tournament break (courtesy of our friends at Litter Box Cats):
“Prior to the break, the Panthers had won five of their last six games, including a dominant 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on home ice on February 8. Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists and Aleksander Barkov registered a goal and a helper in the one-sided affair that helped the Cats maintain its three-point lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division.…
And here’s what tonight’s opponent was up to:
“The Kraken beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 in their last tilt before the two-week break when Matty Beniers scored 2:58 into overtime. Shane Wright and Andre Burakovsky each collected a goal and an assist and Joey Daccord made 27 saves to help Seattle snap a three-game losing streak. The Kraken trail the Vancouver Canucks by 11 points for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.…
It sounds like Tkachuk (injury) won’t be in the lineup tonight. Actually…I’m expecting kind of a slow/sluggish game today considering how many players participated in the 4 Nations tournament - especially from the Cats’ side. I’m thinking there will be some general “out of sorts… on both sides of the ice.
That opinion is in direct opposition to Evan Rodrigues’ “playoff style hockey… comment, which you can read more about in Rob Darragh’s thoughts on tonight.
Rodrigues might just be charged up because of this news:
Bennett and Reinhart will both be in the lineup tomorrow, per Maurice.
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 21, 2025
Rodrigues will slide up to the 2nd line to take Tkachuk’s spot with Bennett and Samoskevich.
“You’re going to see a lot of playoff-style hockey."@darraghfla with your preview for tonight ⤵ï¸
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 22, 2025
With Bob getting the nod, tonight’s projected lineup is looking solid:
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Does anyone else like that second defensive pairing more than the first? _________________________
Nice to have NHL action back…Go Panthers!