The Florida Panthers will look to run their season-long winning streak to five games when they complete the second leg of a back-to-back set on Saturday in Sunrise.

Fresh off Friday night’s exhilarating comeback victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida will welcome the St. Louis Blues for their only visit to Amerant Bank Arena this season.

The Panthers have been playing some solid hockey over the past several weeks, and the results are showing in the standings.

Entering play Saturday, Florida had risen all the way to second place in the Atlantic Division, their 19-13-2 record good for 40 points.

There are actually three teams with 40 points in the division, but Florida has more regulation wins (16) than both Montreal (11) and Boston (14), and the Carts have also played one less game than the Bruins and the same amount as the Canadiens.

That’s what happens when you win four straight games and seven of eight in an extremely tightly packed Eastern Conference.

Now they’ll try to keep the good times rolling when they face former Bruins coach Jim Montgomery and the Blues.

To this point, the season has been a struggle for St. Louis.

The Blues have yet to recover from a 3-7-2 start, currently holding a 13-15-8 mark that has them three points back of San Jose for the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

St. Louis arrives in South Florida with points in two straight (1-0-1) but only two wins over their past six games overall.

In goal, the expected matchup will be Joel Hofer for the Blues and Daniil Tarasov for Florida.

Hofer has received the bulk of the work for St. Louis of late, including each of their past two wins, while on the Florida side, starter Sergei Bobrovsky was in goal for the Cats’ epic comeback on Friday so it makes sense that Tarasov would get the nod on the second night of a back-to-back.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s battle with the Blues:

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

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Three takeaways: Panthers never stopped believing, plays by Lundell and Marchand fuel epic comeback

Comeback Cats erase 3-goal third period deficit, defeat Hurricanes in shootout

The Hockey Show: Panthers rolling, top local broadcasters and Brad Williams talks high-flying Ducks

'He's As Good A Player As We Have' Eetu Luostarinen Praised By The Panthers Organization As He Skates In Game 400

Resurgent Panthers to put latest winning streak on line against Metro-leading Carolina

Photo caption: Dec 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Noah Gregor (18) celebrates with goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) after the game against the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers have made a roster move ahead of their Dec. 20 contest against the New York Rangers. 

The Flyers have announced that they have recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, under emergency conditions. 

The Flyers calling up Kolosov is in response to goaltender Dan Vladar being out due to an upper-body injury. The Flyers announced that Vladar is currently considered day-to-day with his injury. 

Kolosov has made two appearances for the Flyers this season, where he has a 0-1-0 record, a .929 save percentage, and a 1.62 goals-against average. This is after he posted a 5-9-1 record, a .867 save percentage, and a 3.59 goals-against average in his first 17 NHL games this past season with the Flyers. 

Down in the AHL this season with the Phantoms, Kolosov has posted a 6-8-1 record, a .900 save percentage, a 2.77 goals-against average, and one shutout in 15 games. This is after he had a 5-6-1 record, a .884 save percentage, and a 3.11 goals-against average in 12 games for the Phantoms this past season. 

Kolosov was selected by the Flyers with the 78th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. 

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Kings moved on from center Phillip Danault in return for a second-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens, which the Columbus Blue Jackets own.

While it seems like the team and player were heading in this direction, this move by the Kings' GM, Ken Holland, may put them in a tough spot as soon as next season.

Danault wasn't all that effective this year. In 30 games, he had just five assists to show for it, with no goals and an average of 16:19 of ice time per game.

For the remainder of this campaign, the Kings should be able to hold down the fort to some degree with Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield, Alex Turcotte and Samuel Helenius down the middle.

However, with Kopitar retiring at the end of the season, they'll be thin at the center position if Holland doesn't add at some point, or if the Kings grow internally.

In a perfect world, Los Angeles would love to see Byfield become a true No. 1 center and for Turcotte, the fifth overall pick of the 2019 draft, to elevate into a top-six role. But the truth is, there's no certainty in that plan.

Breaching the Surface: Alex Turcotte and the Phillip Danault DilemmaTAMPA BAY, FL – In a place that has been a house of horrors for the Los Angeles Kings, the team was able to squeeze out a 2-1 win in sixty minutes of play, no more, no less, at Amalie Arena. For anyone following closely, that was the 23rd game this season for the Kings in which the game was decided by just one goal. Scaling down, it was also the fourth consecutive game the Kings were without defensive linchpin Phillip Danault, who has been battling the flu. In those four games, the Kings have been outscored at even strength 8-4.

Furthermore, Byfield and Turcotte's production this season hasn't proved that they're both ready for a heavier workload.

In addition, the Kings are in a mode to compete for the playoffs, with an intention of getting past the first round for the first time since they won their second-ever Stanley Cup in 2014. 

Shipping Danault to Montreal for a second-round pick doesn't feel like a move for a contending team, unless there is a plan to pivot off that trade. 

Holland has the assets to play with to look for another boost on the roster. 

With Danault's $5.5-million cap hit off the books, Los Angeles has $9.3 million in salary cap space. With that, the Kings have three first-round picks and four second-round picks for the next three drafts.

While Holland has suitable assets in his pocket, it won't be very simple to acquire a notable center in the trade market. 

Report: Three Kings Scouts Take In Maple Leafs and Blackhawks, Looking For Scoring WingerThe Fourth Period has reported that the Los Angeles Kings had three scouts watching the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Who could the Kings be looking at in terms of a scoring winger?

Danault, in the slow season he's had, and a relatively high cap hit in relation to his role, earned the Kings a second-rounder. That could be looked at as an overpay by the Canadiens.

That trade proves how middle-six centers are not easy to come by, and if they do become available, they come at a high price.

There are several questions surrounding the Kings' lineup after the changes that were made. Those questions could be answered over the next little while of action, whether the holes are effectively filled internally, or a run of poor performances that requires Holland to make an aggressive move.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Jeremy Rutherford and Chris Johnston looked at eight St. Louis Blues who could be traded, with the Central Division club being open to making moves. One of the players discussed was forward Jake Neighbours. 

In the article, the Pittsburgh Penguins were named as a team that could have interest in Neighbours. 

If the Blues end up making Neighbours available for trade, it would make a lot of sense for the Penguins to make a push for him. At 23 years old, he would have the potential to be an excellent long-term fit on a retooling team on the Penguins. Furthermore, he would also help them immediately, which would be a good thing when noting that Pittsburgh is still in the playoff race even with their recent struggles. 

In 24 games so far this season with the Blues, Neighbours has recorded eight goals, seven assists, 15 points, and 64 hits. This is after he had 22 goals, 46 points, and 173 hits in 82 games this past season with the Blues. With numbers like these, he would give the Penguins an impactful power forward to work with in their top nine if acquired.

It will be interesting to see if the Penguins end up making a push for Neighbours, but the fit looks good on paper. 

A former Chicago Blackhawks forward is on the move.

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that they have acquired former Chicago Blackhawks forward Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

Danault had been one of the NHL's top trade candidates, and the Canadiens were one of the clubs that he was heavily linked to. Now, with this move, the former Blackhawks forward is set to begin his second tenure as a member of the Canadiens.

Danault will be looking to bounce back with the Canadiens, as he has had a tough start to the 2025-26 season. In 30 games so far this campaign, he has recorded zero goals and five assists. This is after he had eight goals and 43 points in 80 games this past season with the Kings. 

Danault kicked off his NHL career with the Blackhawks, as the Central Division club selected him in the first round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft with the 26th overall pick. From there, Danault played two seasons with the Blackhawks from 2014-15 to 2015-16, where he recorded one goal and five points in 32 games.

Danault's time with the Blackhawks ended during the 2015-16 season when he was traded to the Canadiens with a 2018 second-round pick in exchange for Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann. He would break out and become a solid top-six two-way center with the Canadiens following the move. 

The Columbus Blue Jackets are at Honda Center to take on the Anaheim Ducks at 10 PM.   

Anaheim Ducks - 20-12-2 - 42 Points - 5-4-1 in the last 10 - 2nd in the Atlantic

Columbus Blue Jackets - 14-14-6 - 34 Points - 3-5-2 in the last 10 - 8th in the Metro  

Blue Jackets Stats

• Power Play - 18.1% - 18th in the NHL
• Penalty Kill - 72.0% - 30th in the NHL
• Goals For - 98 - 20th in the NHL
• Goals Against - 119 - 31st in the NHL

Ducks Stats

• Power Play - 17.7% - 21st in the NHL
• Penalty Kill - 76.3% - 27th in the NHL
• Goals For - 120 - 3rd in the NHL
• Goals Against - 120 - 25th in the NHL

Series History vs. The Ducks

• Columbus is 32-29-1-8 all-time, and 15-16-1-3 on the road vs. Anaheim.
• The Jackets are 2-1-2 in the last 5 games against the Ducks.
• The CBJ have gone 5-of-19 on the PP in the last 6 games.
• The Blue Jackets have killed off 46 straight Ducks man-advantages.

Who To Watch For The Ducks

• Leo Carlsson leads the Ducks 41 points.
• Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson lead the team with 24 assists each.
• Cutter Gauthier leads Anaheim with 18 goals.
• Lukáš Dostál 12-6-1 with a SV% of .905. He started and won last night against the Rangers.
• Goalie Carter Ville Husso is 5-3-1 with a SV% of .884. He started and lost against the Jackets this past Tuesday.

CBJ Player Notes vs. Ducks

• Zach Werenski has 13 points in 15 games against Anaheim
• Boone Jenner has 9 points in his last 16 games against the Ducks.
• Sean Monahan has 29 points in 36 games vs. Anaheim.

Injuries 

• Erik Gudbranson - Upper Body - Missed 26 Games - IR - No timeline for a return
• Mathieu Olivier - Upper Body - Missed 11 Games - IR- No timeline for a return - He is skating

TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 67

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK. Bob Wischusen will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 THE FAN, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play. 

Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more!

Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story. 

Let us know what you think below.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

With only three games left before the Christmas break, the Montreal Canadiens will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre on Saturday night before heading to Pennsylvania for the second part of the back-to-back on Sunday.

The big story for the weekend, aside from the fact that Kent Hughes brought back Phillip Danault, will be Sidney Crosby’s chase for the Penguins' all-time scoring lead. As things stand, the Penguins’ captain sits on point behind Mario Lemieux with 1,722 points; the “kid” needed 1,385 games to get there, while Lemieux recorded 1,723 points in just 915 games. In other words, in Saturday night’s tilt in Montreal, Crosby could tie the Montreal native Lemieux’s point total or even set a new record.

Pittsburgh was shut out in its last game against the Ottawa Senators, but Crosby has an excellent record against the Canadiens with 70 points in 53 career games. Tying or breaking Lemieux’s record in the province where Crosby played his junior hockey would be a great scenario.

Canadiens: Hughes Brings Danault Back
This Canadiens Move Is Looking Very Good Right Now
Canadiens: Montembeault Loses First Game With the Rocket

The Penguins have been struggling of late; they are 2-4-4 in their last 10 games and are currently 12th in the Eastern Conference. They are still without Evgeni Malkin, who’s on injured reserve, and Kris Letang is having an awful season, becoming the target of the Pens’ fans' ire with only 16 points in 33 games with two more years left on his contract and a full no-movement clause.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens are 5-4-1 and still struggling with consistency. Martin St-Louis has yet to confirm who the starter will be for the tilt, but both goalies should see a game, given that the Habs are playing two games in two days. Jakub Dobes has never taken on the Pens, but he had a good game on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Czech netminder has a 12-5-2 record with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage this season. As for Jacob Fowler, he made his NHL debut a little over a week ago against the Pens, and he signed a 4-2 win, saving 36 of the 38 shots he faced for a .947 SV.

As for the Penguins, they recently traded Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers for Stuart Skinner. The latter has played only one game since the trade, and he allowed five goals on 22 shots against his former team. However, he has a 4-1-0 record against the Canadiens with a 2.75 GAA and a .898 save percentage. He’s 11-9-4 on the season with a 2.93 GAA and a .887 SV. As for Arturs Silovs, he has never taken on the Habs in his young career, and he has 4-5-6 record with a 3.26 GAA and a .890 SV on the season.

Up front, Brendan Gallagher is the Canadiens’ most productive player against the Pens with 16 points in 32 games, followed by Nick Suzuki, who has 12 points in 16 games and Mike Matheson with 10 points in 20 games. The defenseman missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, but he did skate on Friday while the team was off.

The Canadiens have acquired forward Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

News release ↓ #GoHabsGohttps://t.co/u7S9L9pJnb

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 20, 2025

At the other end of the ice, Crosby is unsurprisingly the Pens most productive player against the Habs with 70 points in 53 games, as mentioned above. Erik Karlsson comes in second place with 43 points in 53 games, followed by Letang with 40 points in 48 games.

Pittsburgh has won six of the last 10 duels between the two sides, including a whooping 9-2 triumph the last time they met in Montreal. Still, the Habs have won the sole meeting this season, and the Penguins have lost their last seven games, not all in regulation, but still, they haven’t pocketed two points since December 4.

The referees will be Peter MacDougall and Frederic L’Ecuyer, with Devin Berg and Andrew Smith acting as linesmen.

The Canadiens will be celebrating Christmas at the Bell Centre tonight. The first 7,500 fans through the doors will receive a Christmas ornament exclusively designed for the event, and there will be a tailgate at La Cour Rio Tinto, where you can grab a free hot chocolate from the Tim Hortons food truck. If you’re watching the game at home, it’s scheduled for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on TVAS, CITY, SNE, and SN-PIT.

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.  

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.

Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.

Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. 

The Chicago Blackhawks are set to play an afternoon matinee against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Losers of four straight, they have fallen out of favor in the Western Conference. At 13-15-6, they sit five points behind the playoff line. 

As for Ottawa, winners of two straight, they are now 16-13-4. It's been an up-and-down season for them, as they are four points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The difference between the two conferences is evident in this matchup. 

Scouting Ottawa

The Ottawa Senators have the expectation of being a playoff team in 2025-26. They were a playoff team last year and gave the Toronto Maple Leafs all they could handle in the first round. Now, they'd like to take another step, but there is some work to do. 

Their captain, Brady Tkachuk, was injured for some time during this season, but he's back and starting to light it up. Around him is a ton of talent at every position. 

Tkachuk - Stutzle - Zetterlund

Perron - Cozens - Batherson

Amadio - Greig - Giroux

MacDermid - Halliday - Cousins

Sanderson - Zub

Kleven - Spence

Matinpalo - Jensen

Ullmark

Merilainen

Linus Ullmark started in goal for Ottawa in their last game, which means that Leevi Merilainen could get the nod in this one, but Ullmark is no stranger to making two starts in a row.

The trick for the Senators is that they play again on Sunday, so each of them is going to get a start. Ullmark is more likely to go against the team he won the Vezina Trophy with in the Boston Bruins, leaving Merilainen for the Chicago game one day prior. 

Outside of Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle is the catalyst for all offense on this team. That top line is as good as it gets in the NHL. Ottawa needs some of their depth to start showing out a little more. 

On defense, Jake Sanderson is an elite player. When he is on the ice, you can expect the Blackhawks to pay extra close attention to him. 

Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago

The Chicago Blackhawks are trying to change up all sorts of things in order to get back on track. That includes their line combinations. 

Burakovsky - Nazar - Bertuzzi

Mikheyev - Dickinson - Moore

Donato - Greene - Teravainen

Lafferty - Dach - Lardis

Vlasic - Crevier

Grzelcyk - Levshunov

Kaiser - Murphy

This is entirely different from the lineup that they used against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. After practice on Friday, head coach Jeff Blashill wouldn't confirm that these lines would stick for the game. Warmups will be very telling in this regard. 

Ethan Del Mastro and Dominic Toninato were the extras in practice, but their status for this game against Ottawa is still unknown based on Blashill's lineup comments.

Following this game, the Blackhawks don't play until Tuesday night, so it is hard to predict what the goaltending situation will be. Arvid Soderblom has been struggling a bit lately, but this is a typical situation he encounters. If Blashill wants to change it up and use Knight with two days of rest and the holiday break upon them, that wouldn't be much of a surprise either. 

How To Watch

The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found locally on CHSN. It can be streamed nationally on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 2:00 PM CT. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

It’s been an awful start to the season for Phillip Danault. Earlier this week, Research Ground’s Marco D’Amico reported that the centerman had asked for a trade, something his agent Allan Walsh did not appreciate. Still, a few days later, right before the trade freeze, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had acquired the disgruntled Los Angeles Kings’ centerman.

While word around the league was that the Kings were aiming to get a roster player in return, they ultimately agreed to send Danault back to Montreal for a second-round pick, not the Habs’ own pick but the Columbus Blue Jackets’, the one they acquired when they agreed to take on Patrik Laine’s full $8.7 million cap hit for two seasons.

Canadiens: Montembeault Loses First Game With the Rocket
Canadiens: Hutson Makes History And Makes It Look Easy
Canadiens & 2 More Teams Linked To Kings' Phillip Danault

Given the fact that the Jackets are currently 25th in the league with 34 points, it could be a reasonably high pick, but the Canadiens could afford it. They still have eight picks for the upcoming draft, including one in the first three rounds and two in the fourth round (thanks to the Jonathan Kovacevic trade).

In an ideal world, the Canadiens would have liked to acquire a second-line center this summer, but none were available on the market, and Danault is not one of them, not anymore. What he can still do, however, is win a lot of draws and make the Canadiens’ penalty kill much better. While everyone was on board with moving on from Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak, their departure significantly hurt the PK. Martin St-Louis hoped that Alex Newhook would pick up the slack, but that worked for 17 games before he fractured his ankle. He then had surgery that ruled him out for four months, which means until mid-March.

Since then, St-Louis has made do with Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, Oliver Kapanen and Joe Veleno. At times, Nick Suzuki has also pitched in, but overusing him is less than ideal. Danault has a 52.9% faceoff percentage and can definitely help on the penalty kill, but he cannot roll into town hoping to play as significant a role as he once did for the Canadiens.

In his last season with the Canadiens, he was forming the top line with Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar. The latter is long gone, while the former currently skates on the fourth line, and in an ideal world, that’s where Danault needs to land. Looking at the big picture, a player like Kapanen, who has established good chemistry with Ivan Demidov and is working on it with Juraj Slafkovsky, needs to continue gaining valuable experience. Danault is 32 and is only under contract until the end of next season; he’s not going to be there long-term.

While the Canadiens haven’t announced it yet, the AHL transactions page shows that Jared Davidson was loaned back to the Laval Rocket yesterday, a move necessary to comply with the 23-man roster limit. It will be interesting to see who makes way for Danault in the lineup; Veleno and Owen Beck are the two likeliest candidates. Beck is pointless in seven games this season, while Veleno has three points in 29 games. Still, the veteran saw over 14 minutes of ice-time in the last match, while Beck only saw 11:24 of action. The 21-year-old could be best served by playing more minutes down in Laval than being on the Canadiens’ fourth line right now.

The Habs have yet to confirm when Danault will join the team, we’ll probably know more on Saturday morning when the Canadiens hold their morning skate at the Bell Centre at 10:30. It’s worth noting that the centerman hasn’t played since December, 10 because of a virus (that’s the official reason, but it could have been linked to the fact that a trade was in the works as well).

With the Kings not retaining any salary, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens will navigate the numbers when their injured players come back, but that's a topic for another day. 

He's baaaaaacccckkkkk! #Habs with a late night trade before the #NHL holiday roster freeze kicks in acquire Phillip Danault from the #GoKingsGo in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 2026 Draft pic.twitter.com/yQehAE7TVo

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) December 20, 2025

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.  

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.

Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.

Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here.