Fort Lauderdale – Wheels.
The Florida Panthers are packing bags for their final multi-game road trip of the regular season and are aiming to make a strong push to score some points against the four playoff contention teams up the north.
The Panthers closed their home stands and fell 4-2 with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
The score was deadlocked 2-2 in the second term, with Knicks Suzuki’s early third term goals and a slow skirmish strike from Brendan Gallagher secured Montreal’s victory.
Aleksander Barkov, who played in his 800th career NHL game, recorded two assists in defeat.
“We can do good things from these games,” the Panthers captain said after the game. “I think we still did a lot of good things in this game. If we can do the same for 60 minutes, we have a great chance to get better and win than we do today. That’s all we want to think about.”
Taking a shot with red, the Panthers will get another regular season crack with the Canadiens at Bell Center at 7pm on Tuesday.
“They’re a working team,” Sam Reinhart said of the Canadians on Monday at the Baptist Health Iceplex. “It’s a very tough test every time because they changed their style from themselves. Having another crack in them is what you want.”
Occupies the third spot in the Atlantic division with a record of 44-26-3 and nine games remaining, the Panthers hit the road with 91 points in the back pocket.
In a tough race in the division that’s not too late, they’re currently sitting three points behind first-placed Toronto Maple Leafs (94).
“No matter what you’ve done in the past or what you’ve experienced, I always want to play the best hockey,” Reinhart said he’ll finish the season strongly with the playoffs around the corner. “I know there’s a more important time to play your best hockey, but it certainly makes it easier to know and you can’t move your focus to the road.”
Also with 91 points, Tampa Bay Lightning has now won Tie Breaker with the Panthers, leading 37-35.
“You want to play well now, and that’s what we’re trying to find out,” Reinhart said.
Rather than a regular road trip, the Panthers can have consecutive backs during the four-game trip.
The first set will be against Canadians and Maple Leaf on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Finishing their trip, the Panthers will visit another playoff hoppy team in Ottawa and Detroit on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“You’re not going to run the bench to an extreme level,” coach Paul Maurice said of balancing the players’ health and preparing for the playoffs. “Anyway, you haven’t done most nights unless you stay four nights. You’ll be careful about that, but I won’t spend too much time thinking about it about two weeks from now.”
Kulikov Update
Step in the right direction.
Maurice said Monday that defensive man Dmitry Klikov (upper body) will travel with his team on his upcoming road trips.
The goal of bringing the Russian D-Man back on the ice and skating this week remains the same.
“If you get a chestnut on (ice), it can quickly become heavy on conditioning, but he’s not playing on this trip,” Maurice said of Kulikov’s plans.
This season, Kulikov has produced 110 hits with 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists), +13 plus/negative ratings, 70 blocking shots and 68 games.
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