The Florida Panthers will look to extend their season-long winning streak to five games when they kick off a lengthy six-game road trip against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
In the midst of their hottest stretch of the season, the Panthers (6-5-3) have been excelling at both ends of the ice to remain unbeaten, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 17-6 over the last four games, including a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.
All Lines Clicking as Streaking Panthers Visit Philadelphia
11/13/18 Morning Skate
Against Ottawa, all five of Florida's goals came in the second period.
"In the second period, we found our game," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said after Tuesday's morning skate. "We got the momentum going. Obviously Barky's line got us going. The power play was good again. It's a game that maybe we weren't at our best, but we found a way to win."
In their win against the Senators, three of the team's four lines chipped in at least one goal and 11 different players found their way onto the scoresheet, including Frank Vatrano, who has now registered two goals over his last four games to push his total to five this season for the Cats.
"We kind of have four lines going, which is good," Vatrano said. "It shows how deep of a team we are. I think the biggest thing has been keeping it simple, not being too stubborn with turning pucks over at our blue lines and just kind of getting pucks in deep, working off of forechecks and working off of cycling to try and get second chances."
Like Vatrano said, Florida has been getting contributions up and down its lineup recently, but no one has been doing it with as much consistency as top-line forwards Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov, who both enter tonight's game riding double-digit point streaks - a franchise first.
At 12 games, Hoffman owns the longest active point streak in the NHL and is tied for the longest of anyone this season. If he picks up a point against the Flyers, the 28-year-old will match Pavel Bure's franchise record of 13 consecutive games with a point, set during the 1999-00 campaign.
Not far behind Hoffman is Dadonov, who has points in each of his last 11 games and leads the Panthers in scoring with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) through the team's first 14 games.
"He's meshed well with [Aleksander] Barkov and Dadonov, obviously," Boughner said of Hoffman. "He's also worked hard to improve his game away from the puck. It took him a while to just figure out our systems and where he fits on the team. He's done a real good job of that."
Over their last four games, the Panthers have gone 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) on the power play, which ranks them second in the NHL since Nov. 2. On the road, Florida has recorded at least one goal with the extra attacker in five of its last six games, going 9-for-33 overall this season.
"Just keep working off what we've been doing at home," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said when asked about finding success on the road. "It's important that we keep our foot on the gas here and not let off. Like I said, limit their skill, time and speed, and space, and get pucks to the net. It's a pretty simple game, and that's the way we want to play on the road."
With their recent stretch of perfection washing away a slow start, Ekblad said the Panthers are once again starting to feel like the very confident team that finished last season on a 25-8-2 run.
"You can feel it in this room that we believe that we're going to win the game no matter where we are," he said. "Down one [goal], up four, or even going into the third period, it's our game."
Like the Panthers, the Flyers (9-7-2) also enter tonight's matchup on a hot streak. Philadelphia has picked up a point in each of its last six games, going 5-0-1 in that span. During that stretch, Flyers center Claude Giroux has posted a team-leading 11 points (four goals, seven assists).
Named the NHL's 3rd Star of the Week on Monday, Giroux is tied for seventh in league scoring with 22 points, including three goals and five assists during Philadelphia's current three-game winning streak. The 30-year-old forward is also just one point shy of 700 for his career.
"They've been rolling of late as well," Boughner said of the Flyers. "I think that the one thing with this team is that you've really got to play a patient game and manage the puck because they've got a great transition game. They pounce on turnovers. They can score goals, obviously."
NOTES
-- Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov Aleksander enters tonight's game with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) over 14 games this season, including a season-high two-goal performance against Ottawa on Sunday.
-- Keith Yandle leads all Panthers defensemen in points (15) and enters tonight's game on a season-high seven-game point streak -- the longest stretch by a blueliner in franchise history.
-- Jonathan Huberdeau enters tonight's game with 12 points (three goals, nine assists) over his last 10 games. He is expected to play in his 400th NHL game tonight and needs just one more goal to become the 10th player to score 100 goals in a Panthers uniform.
-- Nick Bjugstad enters tonight's game with four points (one goal, three assists) over his last five games.
-- Alexander Petrovic leads the Panthers in both hits (46) and blocked shots (27).
GEICO GOALIE MATCHUP OF THE GAME
Roberto Luongo (3-0-0, 1.42 GAA, .952 SV%) vs. Brian Elliott (6-5-0, 2.67 GAA, .909 SV%)
After enjoying a well-earned night off on Sunday, Luongo will return to the net against the Flyers looking to improve on his perfect 3-0-0 record this season. Although a knee injury kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month, the 39-year-old has been almost infallible when healthy, turning away 100 of the 105 shots (.952 percent) he's faced thus far. In his career against Philadelphia, Luongo is 10-11-3 with a 2.76 goals-against average, a .921 save percentage and one shutout.
Elliott will line up between the pipes for the Flyers looking to extend his personal winning streak to four games. The 33-year-old veteran is coming off a shutout performance against Chicago on Saturday in which he denied all 33 shots that came his way. In his career against the Panthers, he has gone 6-3-0 with a 2.64 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Evgenii Dadonov - Aleksander Barkov - Mike Hoffman
Jonathan Huberdeau - Vincent Trocheck - Frank Vatrano
Denis Malgin - Jared McCann - Nick Bjugstad
Troy Brouwer - Juho Lammikko - Colton Sceviour
Defense
Mike Matheson - Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle - Alexander Petrovic
Bogdan Kiselevich - MacKenzie Weegar
Goalies
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratches: Mark Pysyk, Maxim Mamin
Injured Reserve: Derek MacKenzie (shoulder), Jamie McGinn (back)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Nov. 13: F Micheal Haley was loaned to Springfield (AHL) for conditioning.
- Nov. 5: G Michael Hutchinson was loaned to Springfield (AHL).
- Nov. 1: G Roberto Luongo was activated form the injured reserve list.
- Oct. 26: C Derek MacKenzie was placed on the injured reserve list.
HOW TO WATCH
When: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center - Philadelphia, PA
TV:Fox Sports Florida
Stream:
HERE
Florida Panthers Radio Network:790 WAXY (Dade/Broward); 640 WMEN (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 1370 WAXE (Treasure Coast)
Watch Party: Thanks to the new "Territory on Tap" program, every road game now offers a chance for a watch party in South Florida! To see which local bars and restaurants will have drink specials and giveaways for today's game,
visit the official "Territory on Tap" page!
There is also a special watch party at Bokamper's Sports Bar & Grill in Miramar.
Watch with us @Bokampers & #TerritoryOnTap locations this week!
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) November 11, 2018
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