Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Dec. 30 Game vs. New York Rangers
The last time the Panthers saw the Rangers, they boasted the league’s best record. Now? Not so much.
The New York Rangers are in a much different spot than they were the last time the Florida Panthers saw them.
Late in October, the Panthers marched up to New York and handed the Rangers their first regulation loss of the season when they boasted the best record in the NHL at 5-0-1.
Since that night, the Rangers have gone 11-18-0 — boasting the second-worst point percentage in the league in that span behind the Chicago Blackhawks — and have undergone a slew of changes.
Former captain Jacob Trouba and 2019 No. 2 overall pick Kappo Kakko were traded to the Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken respectively, Chris Kreider has been a healthy scratch with trade rumors swirling around his name and the culture around that team has simply imploded.
It doesn’t mean this game means any less to the Panthers. After all, this is still the New York team that had them on the ropes in the Eastern Conference final — in overtime of Game 4, down 2-1 in the series — before they eventually took over and made their second-straight Stanley Cup Final. But this Rangers team seems less focused than that team from a year ago.
As of now, the Rangers boast the worst record in the Metropolitan Division — trailing the crosstown rival Islanders by two points — and find themselves seven points back of the final wild card spot with the halfway point drawing near.
New York should be the more desperate team in this game with their season slipping away (while the Panthers boast the best record in the Atlantic Division) but they have continued to look anemic despite the talent on their roster.
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Florida Panthers.
Niko Mikkola and Jonah Gadjovich will remain out of the lineup with their respective injuries. Adam Boqvist remains in the lineup.
Today’s game will air at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on Scripps Sports. It is available for streaming on Panthers+ for those in Florida’s broadcast territory.
For more information on how to catch Panthers games this season, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Evan Rodrigues — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe— Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Mackie Samoskevich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis — Adam Boqvist
Spencer Knight
Sergei Bobrovsky
Injured: Niko Mikkola (DTD), Jonah Gadjovich
NEW YORK RANGERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Artemi Panarin — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider — Mika Zibanejad — Reilly Smith
Will Cuylle — Filip Chytil — Brett Berard
Adam Edstrom — Sam Carrick — Jimmy Vesey
Ryan Lindgren — Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller — Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
(Lines via DailyFaceoff.com)
*Opposing team lines subject to change.