Just two points out of a playoff spot with a record of 10-9-4, the Panthers enter tonight's matchup looking to rebound from a 6-2 loss at Calgary on Tuesday. Nick Cousins and Sam Reinhart netted the goals against the Flames, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves.
Riding a four-game point streak and looking to stay hot against his hometown team, Reinhart, a native of North Vancouver, has produced six points (two goals, four assists) during that stretch. Dating back to Nov. 6, he also leads the Panthers with seven goals, including five on the power play.
Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers in scoring with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists). Second in scoring and first among Florida's defensemen, Brandon Montour has tallied 20 points (five goals, 15 assists). In third, Carter Verhaeghe has 19 points, including a team-high 12 goals.
Manning the cage in Vancouver, Spencer Knight, who has started four of the previous six games, owns a 6-3-3 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.
Celebrating an impressive milestone, Patric Hornqvist will skated in his 900th career NHL game.
"You want to play as many games as you can in this league," said Hornqvist, who's spent 130 of those 900 games with the Panthers. "This is my life. I love to be on the ice, I love to compete and I love to win games. They'll have to kick me out of this league. I want to just keep going."
Sitting at 9-11-3 in the standings, the Canucks saw their three-game winning streak snapped with a 5-1 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday. Nils Hoglander registered the lone goal against Washington, while Spencer Martin surrendered four goals on 27 shots between the pipes.
Prior to that loss, the Canucks had really been clicking on offense, scoring at least six goals in six straight games before mustering just one against the Capitals. Overall, Vancouver owns the sixth-ranked offense in the NHL with an average of 3.48 goals scored per game.
Elias Pettersson leads the Canucks in scoring with 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists). Not too far behind, Bo Horvat is second in points (24), including a team-leading 17 goals. J.T. Miller (24), Andrei Kuzmenko (21) and Quinn Hughes (21) have also already crossed the 20-point mark.
"He's a real hard forward to play against," Maurice said of Horvat, who's scored three goals in his last five games. "They'll match him against the other team's best. He's a big, big faceoff man, especially on the power play and penalty kill in terms of the numbers he takes. He's got a good hard shot and is not afraid of the game."
After backing up Martin in three of the last four games, Thatcher Demko is expected to get the nod in net for the Canucks. In 14 appearances this season, Demko, who is 1-2-0 in his career against Florida, has gone 3-9-2 with a 3.81 goals-against average and .885 save percentage.
Coming out on top in each of their last three head-to-head meetings, the Panthers posted a 2-0-0 record against the Canucks in 2021-22, winning those two games by a combined score of 6-2.
"We've got to believe in and trust our systems and trust what we do out there." Verhaeghe said when asked about the keys to bouncing back against the Canucks. "That's pretty much it."
