The Florida Panthers are running out of time if they want to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.
With only 27 games remaining on their schedule, the Panthers know they have quite a bit of work to do in order to catch up to the teams currently holding Stanley Cup Playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
Entering play Wednesday, Florida has racked up 59 points in their 55 games played.
That total has the Cats sitting nine points behind Wednesday’s opponent, the Boston Bruins, who hold the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Florida holds one game in hand on the Bruins, which may or may not come in handy, depending how the next 10 to 15 games go for the Panthers.
Having the healthiest lineup possible for the next two games will go a long way toward Florida procuring all four possible points.
That means we’ll be closely monitoring the status of Panthers forwards Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell.
All three are considered day-to-day and we could all or none of them in the Cats’ lineup on Wednesday night.
“There’s a chance they all play tomorrow, there’s a chance none of them play tomorrow,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said after Tuesday’s practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.
Florida is scheduled to hold an optional morning skate ahead of the Bruins game, so there’s a chance Maurice could have an update at that time.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Wednesday’s clash with the Bruins:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Sandis Vilmanis – Luke Kunin – Jesper Boqvist
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Uvis Balinskis
Tobias Bjornfot – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Jan 11, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) moves the puck against the Boston Bruins during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)