Barkov, Panthers Kick Off Crucial Road Trip in Buffalo

The Florida Panthers are ready to make their move heading into the holiday break.
With an opportunity to gain some ground in the standings, the Panthers will kick off a crucial four-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday night - the first of three games the team will play against an Atlantic Division opponent before Christmas.

"At the beginning of the season, we haven't played a ton of these divisional games yet," Panthers winger Troy Brouwer said. "Now, we're going a bulk of them towards the end of the season and right before Christmas here, too. They're crucial points for us if we want to start climbing the standings and getting ourselves into a playoff spot."
Following a winless road trip through St. Louis and Minnesota, the Panthers rediscovered their confidence at home with a 4-3 overtime win over Toronto at BB&T Center on Saturday. With two goals already in tow, captain Aleksander Barkov completed the first hat trick of his career when he lit the lamp at 3:24 of the extra frame to help snap his team out of a four-game losing skid.
With the win, Florida improved to 12-13-6 on the season.
"When you call on the team and sort of challenge them to raise their compete and check all the boxes, what better guy to step up than your captain?," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "He led by example. Sometimes the weight of the world's on his back; he carries this team on his back many nights, his line and especially him. He answered the bell big time."
An early-season contender for the Selke Trophy, Barkov's incredible defense and intangibles continue to compliment his point-per-game production (he has 14 goals and 17 assists in 31 games so far this season. The 23-year-old ranks second in the NHL with 52 takeaways, while also winning a career-high 53.6 percent of his faceoffs and drawing a league-high 23 penalties.
The NHL's leader in average ice time among forwards, Barkov skated a season-high 27:42 against the Leafs.
"Every time we win in this league it's always nice, the feeling in the locker after the games and the feeling or the next couple days," said Barkov, who has 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists over his last 20 games. "Of course we have a new game right now, and all we're doing is concentrating on that."
"We just need to prepare the same way we did against Toronto. [The Sabres] are a good team with a lot of good players. We just need to play the same way we did against Toronto, take their best players out of the game right away and just try to play our own game."
The Sabres (20-9-5) have won three out of their last four games and currently sit in second place in the division. Jack Eichel leads the team with 45 points, including 10 goals and 16 assists over his last 16 games. Jeff Skinner, meanwhile, ranks first on the team with 24 goals.
On Nov. 30, Barkov scored in overtime to lift Florida to a 3-2 win over Buffalo in Sunrise.
"If you have a good game to start it off, everyone feels good going into the next one and it kind of snowballs," Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson said of the importance of winning the first game of a big road trip. "But it can have the reverse effect if it's not a good game."

NOTES

-- Aaron Ekblad ranks first among Florida's defenseman and tied for fourth among all NHL blueliners with seven goals. With just two more goals, the 22-year-old will surpass Robert Svehla (61) for first place on the franchise's all-time goals list by a defenseman.
-- Keith Yandle ranks first among Panthers defensemen in points (29) and assists (24), while also being tied for the NHL-lead in power-play points (20). The 32-year-old has registered 13 points (one goal, 12 assists), including 11 on the power play, over his last 15 games.
-- Evgenii Dadonov enters tonight's game with 11 points (five goals, six assists) over his last 10 games. The 29-year-old forward ranks second on the Panthers in goals (14) and fourth in points (30), while his 19 points at even strength rank third.
-- MacKenzie Weegar enters tonight's game with three points (one goal, two assists) over his last five games. Over that span, the 24-year-old has tallied a team-leading 12 blocked shots to push his total this season to 43 - one behind fellow D-man Mike Matheson for the team lead.
-- Mike Hoffman leads the Panthers in goals (15) and has notched eight points (three goals, five assists) over his last five games. The 29-year-old also leads the team with 113 shots, recording at least one shot on goal in each of the team's 31 games this season.
-- Since Nov. 24, Jonathan Huberdeau ranks second in the NHL with 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) over 11 games. In that span, he's registered multiple points in nine of 11 games. The 25-year-old forward leads the Panthers with 38 points (nine goals, 29 assists) this season.
-- Florida's penalty kill ranks tied for second in the NHL since Nov. 24, successfully killing off 26 of 29 (89.6 percent) opposing power plays. Over that span, Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov, Colton Sceviour and Mike Matheson have all see over 20 minutes of shorthanded ice time.

GEICO GOALIE MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Roberto Luongo (6-5-1, 3.02 GAA, .904 SV%) vs. Carter Hutton (13-8-2, 2.54 GAA, .919 SV%)
Luongo will make his second straight start after making 29 saves during Florida's 4-3 overtime win over Toronto on Saturday. The 39-year-old veteran has helped the team pick up a point in two of his last three outings while not allowing a single power play goal during that span. Against the Sabres, he has gone 19-8-2 with a 1.95 goals-against average, .934 save percentage and five shutouts, which is tied for the most shutouts he's posted against any opponent throughout his career.
Hutton is expected to return to Buffalo's net after backing up Linus Ullmark during the team's 4-2 win in Boston on Sunday. The 32-year-old has lost three of his last four starts after winning his previous eight. In his very limited career against the Panthers, he owns a 2-0-0 record with a 1.22 goals-against average, .957 save percentage and one shutout.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Mike Hoffman
Frank Vatrano - Henrik Borgstrom - Evgenii Dadonov
Troy Brouwer - Jared McCann - Denis Malgin
Micheal Haley - Juho Lammikko - Jayce Hawryluk
Defense
Keith Yandle - Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson - Mark Pysyk
Alexander Petrovic - MacKenzie Weegar
Goalies
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratches:Bogdan Kiselevich, Colton Sceviour, Nick Bjugstad (upper body)
Injured Reserve: Derek MacKenzie (shoulder), Jamie McGinn (back), Vincent Trocheck (ankle)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Dec. 15: F Henrik Borgstrom and F Jayce Hawryluk were recalled from Springfield (AHL).
  - Dec. 15: F Anthony Greco and F Dryden Hunt were returned to Springfield (AHL).
  - Dec. 11: F Anthony Greco was recalled from Springfield (AHL).

HOW TO WATCH

When:Tuesday, Dec. 18, 7:00 p.m.
Where:KeyBank Center - Buffalo, NY
TV:Fox Sports Florida
Stream:
HERE
Florida Panthers Radio Network: 560 WQAM (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 Plantation tonight.