Preview: Panthers vs. Hurricanes

An early Sunday evening puck drop pits the Carolina Hurricanes against the Florida Panthers for the third time in nine days.

The Match-Up

Florida Panthers (15-4-4, 34 points) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (16-6-1, 33 points)
Sunday, March 7, 5 p.m.
Watch: FOX Sports Carolinas,
FOX Sports GO
Listen: 99.9 FM The Fan,
Hurricanes.com/Listen
,
Hurricanes app
PROJECTED LINEUP

Numbers to Know

100: Rod Brind'Amour earned his
100th career win as head coach
on Thursday night. It took Brind'Amour 173 games to accomplish the feat, as he became the fastest head coach in franchise history and tied for 12th fastest in NHL history to do so.
5: Jake Gardiner has missed the Canes' last five games with an upper-body concern, but he practiced again with the team on Saturday. According to Brind'Amour, Gardiner "kind of gave us the thumbs up that he was 100 percent. He's an option for us tomorrow, probably game-time on that one."
4: Dougie Hamilton recorded two assists on Thursday against Detroit to extend his assist streak to four games. He leads the team in assists (15) and power-play assists (9) this season. Vincent Trocheck also posted a pair of assists on Thursday to extend his point streak to four games (3g, 2a). He leads the team with 21 points (12g, 9a) in 22 games this season.

The Opposition

Last five games: 3-0-2, 8 points
On the road: 8-1-1, 16 points
CAR vs. FLA: 2-0-1
Leading scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau, 28 points (10g, 18a) in 23 games
The Panthers are riding a five-game point streak (3-0-2) after consecutive victories in Nashville. Led by a hat trick from Noel Acciari, Florida completed its two-game sweep of the Predators with a 6-2 win on Saturday afternoon.

The Last Meeting

The Canes and Panthers last met just a week ago in Sunrise. The Canes took game one of the two-game set by a 4-3 score in the shootout, and two nights later, the Canes again claimed the extra point in a 3-2 overtime victory. Trocheck scored in both games in his first trip back to South Florida, while Martin Necas scored both the shootout-deciding goal and overtime-winning goal in either game.

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