Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Jan. 11 Game vs. Boston Bruins
Aaron Ekblad will be a game-time decision when the Florida Panthers renew their rivalry with the Boston Bruins in front of a nationally-televised audience on Saturday afternoon.
The Florida Panthers will be taking on the rival Boston Bruins on a nationally-televised stage on Saturday afternoon.
Florida and Boston will be taking its quickly-developing rivalry to ABC in a clash of the second- and third-best teams in the Atlantic Division.
The Panthers have gotten the better of the Bruins in back-to-back years in the playoffs, as well as both of their meetings this year. Florida knows Boston will be hungry when it makes its first trip to Sunrise since the Panthers lifted their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters on Oct. 8.
“It’s been a couple months since we’ve saw them last, but I think every time we see them, no matter how both teams are doing, it’s a game that brings out the best of both,” Sam Reinhart said. “It’s going to be a challenge, it’s going to be a grind and we are looking forward to the test.”
A lot has changed in Boston since the last time the Panthers saw them.
The Bruins were struggling when the Panthers last beat them on Oct. 14 with Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov both out of the lineup. They fell into a slump so bad that they fired head coach Jim Montgomery and hired assistant coach Joe Sacco to be his interim replacement.
It has seemed to have done the trick so far, with Boston boasting a 12-10-2 record since making the coaching change and jumping back into the playoff race.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in Beantown right now.
The Bruins have dropped five games in a row, including their past two in regulation, and have since dropped from the third seed in the Atlantic Division to a wild card spot. They will be hungry to break that streak.
Especially against one of their biggest rivals.
“I think when you got the history like the two of us do with each other, it makes no difference where you are at,” Reinhart said. “If you win four, lose four, whatever it may be, it’s a game that brings out the best of both and if you’re not ready at the start, you’re going to pay the price.”
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Florida Panthers.
Aaron Ekblad will be a game-time decision for the Panthers after returning from a one-game absence from injury on Wednesday night in Utah. He did not practice on Friday morning.
Today’s game will air at 1:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on ABC. It is also available for streaming on ESPN+.
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
Eetu Luostarinen — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe — Anton Lundell — Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Mackie Samoskevich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Dmitry Kulikov
Nate Schmidt — Uvis Balinskis
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
Scratched: Adam Boqvist, Toby Bjornfot
Injured: Jonah Gadjovich,
BOSTON BRUINS PROJECTED LINEUP
Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand — Elias Lindholm — Charlie Coyle
Oliver Wahlstrom — Trent Frederic — Justin Brazeau
Cole Koepke — John Beecher — Mark Kastelic
Nikita Zadorov — Charlie McAvoy
Parker Wotherspoon — Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei — Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman
Joonas Korpisalo
(Lines via DailyFaceoff.com)
*Opposing team lines subject to change.