The Florida Panthers are ready to kick off an extended stretch of home games after a very road-heavy opening schedule.
Only seven of Florida’s first 16 games have come at Amerant Bank Arena, but those numbers are going to be skewed in the opposite direction in the not-too-distant future.
That’s because in the coming weeks, the Panthers will play 11 of their next 12 games on home ice.
The fun will start on Thursday night when they welcome the Washington Capitals to Sunrise for the first of their two visits to South Florida.
So far this season, the Capitals, much like the Panthers, are making their way through a so-so start to their campaign.
Both teams hold identical 8-7-1 records through 16 games.
Florida has been great at home but didn’t start playing consistency well on the road until the past week.
After starting the season with three straight home wins, the Cats have meandered around the .500 mark since.
Similarly, the Capitals got off to a great start as well, winning four of their first five and six of eight to jump out to a 6-2-0 mark.
Since then, however, Washington has struggled.
They went through a stretch where they lost six of seven before picking up a big road win on Tuesday in Carolina.
One constant bright spot for the Caps throughout the young season has been the play of goaltender Logan Thompson.
He holds a respectable 7-4-0 record, but his statistics – a 1.56 goals against average and .935 save percentage – are Vezina-worthy.
It wasn’t until his tenth start of the season, last Saturday in Tampa, that Thompson allowed more than two goals in a game.
He’s expected to patrol the crease for the Caps on Thursday, and his likely opponent will be Sergei Bobrovsky.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Thursday’s matchup with Washington:
Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Sam Bennett – Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer – Cole Schwindt – Luke Kunin
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dominic Sebrango – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: May 5, 2022; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) covers Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) during the third period in game two of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at FLA Live Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)