SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers will look to stay scorching hot on the power play when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
Entering the matchup tied for the most points in the Atlantic Division, the Panthers currently sit at 16-9-2 in the standings and have won four of their last five games.
“I’d block maybe the first four games together,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the team’s current run. “Intense, physical games in those. Also, teams that we’d played and have a playoff history with, and that brings it out.”
Owning the league’s third-best power play at 28.4%, the Panthers found the back of the net four times with the extra attacker in a 7-5 win at Philadelphia in their last outing on Thursday.
After the Panthers raced out to a 3-0 lead, the Flyers countered and managed to even the score late in the second period as two very quick strikes from Owen Tippett made it 4-4.
But after falling behind 5-4 in the third period, Gustav Forsling buried a long goal from the point to make it 5-5, and then Sam Reinhart put Florida up 6-5 with a power-play goal.
Locking in the win with his fifth point of the game, Matthew Tkachuk, who’s recorded nine points over the last two games, put the Panthers up 7-5 with an empty-net goal at 19:49.
Over their last five games, the Panthers have gone 10-for-19 (52.6%) on the power play.
“Give the puck to some of the best players in the world and let them do their thing,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who’s been quarterbacking the top unit, said of the team’s execution with the man advantage. “It’s a simple job for me. Try and shoot it when I can. But when I can’t, give it to Barky (Aleksander Barkov). How hard is that, right?”
In addition to being tied for first in the NHL with 19 goals, Reinhart leads the Panthers with 37 points. On the back of his aforementioned points explosion over the last two games, Tkachuk is second on the team with 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists), amassing that lofty total in just 19 games.
Playing his usual Selke-worthy defense, Barkov also has posted 27 points.
Staying back in South Florida during the recent two-game road trip while he welcomed an addition to his family, Sergei Bobrovsky, now with double the dad strength as a father of two, will make his return to the crease for the Panthers and get the start tonight.
In his career against San Jose, the future Hall of Famer has gone 13-5-2 with a .933 save percentage.
With Bobrovsky back, Chris Driedger was sent back to the AHL on Friday, with rookie forward Mackie Samoskevich coming right back up after going down for cap purposes.
“His preparation is off the charts,” Maurice said of Bobrovsky. “His love of the game, it’s infectious how much respect he has for the game and how hard he prepares. That really pushes the players, but then the players are indebted to him. If he’s going to work that hard, they have to play to a certain level in front of him. He’s earned that, and he’s a new dad. Everyone is happy for him. Everyone is jacked up for him.”
Winners in four out of their last six games, the Sharks enter tonight’s matchup looking to dust themselves off after being the victim of an 8-1 beatdown at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Not even given a chance to settle in against the Lightning, the Sharks found themselves down 5-0 after just one period of play. Mustering only 21 shots on goal in the loss, Alex Wennberg scored the team’s lone goal 14 seconds into the third period.
Digging a deep hole with nine straight losses to start the season, San Jose sits at 10-14-5.
Mikael Granlund leads the Sharks in scoring with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists), while William Eklund is second with 23 points (five goals, 18 assists). Acquired from Detroit for future considerations in the offseason, defenseman Jake Walman has notched 19 points (four goals, 15 assists).
At the center of San Jose’s rebuild is Macklin Celebrini, the first-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. In 17 games, the 18-year-old forward has recorded 15 points (eight goals, seven assists). Heating up, he’s accumulated four goals and four assists in his last six games.
“I guess the way to handle it is just to remove the birth certificate,” Maurice said of facing Celebrini for the first time. “You get any player playing very, very well and they’re going to be hard to handle, any of them. … I like the way he plays the game. ... He looks like he’s going to be a very, very skilled and dynamic player that doesn’t cheat the game.”
The Panthers went 2-0-0 against the Sharks in 2023-24.
THEY SAID IT
“He’s going to put up a bunch of numbers. He’s got lots of skill. But he’s a young man and there’s a whole bunch of the game you can’t learn in amateur hockey. It’s just different here. The size and speed, the ability to stay involved the entire shift, these are all things you have to learn. He’s learning them. He’s actually ahead of where I thought he’d be.” – Paul Maurice on Mackie Samoskevich’s development
“It was a big win for us. That’s not the way we want the games to go, but the power play really stepped up and got big goals for us. We just don’t want to give that much up.” – Eetu Luostarinen on the win at Philadelphia
FIVE CATS STATS
- Matthew Tkachuk has notched 27 points (7G, 20A) in 22 career games vs. San Jose.
- Sam Reinhart has scored a team-leading six goals on the power play.
- Sam Bennett enters tonight’s matchup on a five-game point streak.
- Aaron Ekblad has dished out seven assists over his last 10 contests.
- The Panthers are 7-0-0 when Evan Rodrigues scores a goal.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Nate Schmidt
Dmitry Kulikov – Uvis Balinskis
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- Dec. 6: G Chris Driedger loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
- Dec. 6: F Mackie Samoskevich recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Dec. 2: G Chris Driedger recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Dec. 2: F Mackie Samoskevich loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Saturday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
Radio: 790 WAXY (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT-AM & 92.1 WZZR-FM (Palm Beach);100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM Channel 220 / App & Streaming 931
Tickets: Click Here
