The Florida Panthers will look to keep the good times rolling when they kick of a back-to-back set on Friday night in Sunrise.
Florida has now won six of their past seven games after defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena and will look to win four straight for the first time this season when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
This will be the first of three regular season meetings between the Cats and Canes, two teams that have grown extremely familiar with each other over the past few years.
That’s because Carolina has hosted the Panthers in two of the past three Eastern Conference Finals, and both times it was Florida who came out on top.
In 2023, Florida swept the Hurricanes to make their first of three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances. Then last season, the Panthers again got the best of Carolina, though this time it took five games to advance to the Final.
While Florida has been battling through significant injury issues for much of the year, causing them to slide down in the Eastern Conference standings, the Hurricanes are once again looking like the toast of the Metropolitan Division.
Entering play Friday, Carolina holds a four point edge over the second-place Washington Capitals in the Metro.
They’ve won each of their past five games and are 8-2-0 since Thanksgiving.
One of the big sources of success for Carolina has been the play of goaltender Brandon Bussi.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because Bussi spent training camp and most of the preseason with the Panthers after Florida signed him during the summer.
The Hurricanes snagged Bussi off the waiver wire when the Panthers tried to move him to the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers, and boy has that move paid off for the Canes.
Bussi became the first goaltender in NHL history to win 11 of his first 12 starts, a streak he’s still riding to this day. The 27-year-old also has a tidy 2.05 goals against average and .911 save percentage to go with his impressive 11-1-0 record.
Carolina has rotated between Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov over their past four games, all wins, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see that rotation continue when they face Florida on Friday.
If that’s the case, Bussi would get the nod after Kochetkov picked up the win on Wednesday in Nashville.
As for the Panthers, they will likely go with starter Sergei Bobrovsky after giving him the night off when Florida defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night in Sunrise.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Friday’s battle with the Hurricanes:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Noah Gregor – Luke Kunin
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Nov 26, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand (63) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Philadelphia Flyers during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)