FORT LAUDERDALE – Wheels up.
Packing their bags for their last multi-game road trip of the regular season, the Florida Panthers will look to make a strong push to pick up some points against four playoff-contending teams up north.
Closing out their homestand, the Panthers fell 4-2 against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
With the score deadlocked at 2-2 after the second period, an early third-period goal from Nick Suzuki and a late empty-net strike from Brendan Gallagher secured the win for Montreal.
Playing in his 800th career NHL game, Aleksander Barkov tallied two assists in the defeat.
“We can take good things from these games,” the Panthers captain said after the game. “I think we still did a lot of good things in this game. If we can do the same thing for 60 minutes, we will be better than today and will have a great chance to win. That’s all we want to think about.”
Getting a shot at redemption, the Panthers will get one more regular-season crack at the Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
“They are a team that’s going to work,” Sam Reinhart said of the Canadiens on Monday at Baptist Health IcePlex. “They’ve kind of changed their style from what they were, so it’s an extremely tough test every time. To have another crack at them, is something you hope for.”
Occupying the third spot in the Atlantic Division with a 44-26-3 record and nine games left to play, the Panthers will hit the road with 91 points in their back pocket.
A tight race for the division that hasn’t slowed down in the slightest, they currently sit three points behind the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs (94) with a game in hand.
“No matter what you’ve done in the past, what you’ve gone through, you want to play your best hockey at all times,” Reinhart said of finishing the season strong with playoffs around the corner. “You know there’s more important times to be playing your best hockey, but that certainly doesn’t make it any easier knowing that and shifting your focus to down the road.”
Also with 91 points, the Tampa Bay Lightning hold the regulation wins tiebreaker as of now over the Panthers, leading 37 to 35.
“You want to be playing good now, and that’s what we’re trying to find now,” said Reinhart.
Not a normal road trip, the Panthers will have a pair of back-to-backs during the four-game travel period.
The first set will be a matchup with the Canadiens and Maple Leafs on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Finishing the trip off, the Panthers will then visit another pair of playoff-hopeful teams in Ottawa and Detroit on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“You’re not going to run your bench to an extreme level,” head coach Paul Maurice said of balancing the health of players and preparing for the playoffs. “You’re not doing the most nights anyways, unless you have four nights off. You’ll be mindful of it, but I won’t spend too much time thinking about two weeks from now.”
KULIKOV UPDATE
A step in the right direction.
Maurice stated on Monday that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) would travel with the team on the upcoming road trip.
The goal of getting the Russian D-man back on the ice and skating this week remains intact.
“Once we get Kuli on (the ice), we can get heavy on the conditioning right away, but I don’t have him playing on this trip,” Maurice said of the plan for Kulikov.
This season, Kulikov has produced 13 points (four goals, nine assists), a +13 plus/minus rating, 70 blocked shots and 110 hits in 68 games.
For an update on Matthew Tkachuk’s status, click HERE.
