The Panthers are on a two-game heater (haha) as they head to Dallas to face a very strong 23-11-6 Stars team that is on top of the Central Division.
If Florida can get the W, it will be the first three-game win streak for the Cats this season. This is a tough test for the inconsistent Panthers who are looking to get back to some relevancy in the Wild Card race. If they can beat the Stars, they should carry some good confidence/momentum over to the Avalanche and Knights when they round out this current road trip.
Knight starts in Dallas, per Maurice.
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) January 8, 2023
No other lineup changes expected.
A little nervous about the Knight decision, but very happy to see no other lineup changes. As I said last blog, I’m loving the work being put in by Smith and Lomberg (particularly Smith) as of late — and Staal has been a nice surprise down there. Let that fourth line grind down the opposition through physical play and net-front disruption. Dallas has a lot of speedy/skilled players that need to have the body put on them early and often. Led by Jamie Benn’s example, this Stars team — both from the defense to the forward corp — can skate the puck into the offensive zone and get into the dangerous areas. Hope Florida can contain the majority of these rushes to the outside because they will have their hands full with the likes of Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, who have scored 45 goals and 54 assists, while Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin and Benn have combined for 36 goals and 64 assists.
The Stars defense has allowed only 12 goals in their last six games, so that Florida offense needs to get cranking.
If the Panthers are looking for some kind of mental boost heading into this afternoon, it’s the fact that Dallas was surprisingly shutout by the Ducks in their last game by a score of 0-2…
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Go Panthers!
Sunday afternoon hockey 🤩#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/baILTBtq8Q
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) January 8, 2023