SUNRISE, Fla. – This matchup should pack a little extra punch.
Kicking off the home portion of their 2023-24 schedule, the Florida Panthers will welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs to Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday for a rematch of last year’s playoffs.
PREVIEW: Panthers celebrate Home Opener with playoff rematch vs. Leafs
Panthers open home schedule with divisional matchup against Toronto
Blazing their path to the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers eliminated the Maple Leafs in five games – four of them decided by just one goal -- in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
“I think rivalries are built in the playoffs,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “They’re not divisional or conference. There’s no way to play a series with Toronto and not have it be an event. There’s just so much coverage and so much scrutiny put on everything. There will be an extra energy for us in this with Toronto, Boston and Carolina. It’ll be a different year in these series, for sure.”
A different year, but hopefully the same home-ice advantage.
With the crowd oozing energy, the Panthers went 23-13-5 in Sunrise last season. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, they also rank seventh in the NHL with 162 points accrued in their own barn.
It appears that home is where both the heart and the points are.
“Any time we play in front of our home fans, it’s something special,” sniper Carter Verhaeghe said with a smile. “They’re great. They always come excited. It’s going to be awesome tonight.”
Ending their season-opening, three-game road trip on a high note, the Panthers enter tonight’s matchup on the heels of a 4-3 win in New Jersey. Sam Reinhart lit the lamp twice for his second consecutive multi-point game, while Verhaeghe and newcomer Niko Mikkola also touched twine.
In net, Sergei Bobrovsky, who will man the crease against the Maple Leafs, made 31 saves – including 13 high-danger stops – to earn his 106th win with the Panthers. With one more win, he’ll break a tie with John Vanbiesbrouck for the second-most victories in franchise history.
Despite sitting at 1-2-0, Florida ranks fifth in the NHL in expected-goals percentage (56.25%) in all situations.
“I think we just want to build,” Verhaeghe said. “Any time we start a season, there’s always areas we can improve. I think all three games weren’t perfect. We liked some parts of our game, and there were some parts we didn’t like. We’re always trying to improve.”
After winning their first two games, the Maple Leafs suffered a 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks in their last outing to fall to 2-1-0. John Tavares had the lone goal for Toronto as Arvid Soderblom stopped 35 of 36 shots in Chicago’s net. For the Maple Leafs, Joseph Woll made 27 saves.
Getting off to a sizzling start, Auston Matthews leads the Maple Leafs with six goals after recording a hat trick in each of the team’s first two games. Tied with Matthews for first on the team in scoring, William Nylander and Tavares have also racked up six points each thus far.
Feasting with the extra attacker, Toronto is operating at 40% on the power play.
“They have a lot of skilled guys up front, him and a few others,” said captain Aleksander Barkov, who helped limit Matthew to zero goals in their playoff series last year. “You have to be aware of them all the time on the ice, but at the same time try to concentrate on your own game.”
The Panthers are not expected to make any lineup changes for tonight’s tilt.
“We’ve got a few games done already, but it’s always special to come back home and play the first game,” Barkov said. “Looking back at last season with how it ended, it was always a great atmosphere. I can’t wait to have the same thing tonight.”
PREGAME QUOTES
“We just stuck together and did our game plan. We tried to defend well and obviously play in their zone as much as possible. We just played the whole playoffs like that. That’s our identity – to work hard, play hard. That’s what got us pretty far last year. That’s what we want to build this year as well.” – Aleksander Barkov on Florida’s success against Toronto in the playoffs
“I think the fans here resonated with how hard this team played. You can enjoy those because they’re usually heavy games, usually lots of emotions in them because they’re physical. Now we have to rebuild it because we have a different group and there’s different players here. We kind of have to reinvest Iin that and constantly give our fans a reason to cheer.” – Paul Maurice on Florida’s home-ice advantage
FIVE CATS STATS
- The Panthers have won 11 of their past 13 home-opening games.
- Evan Rodrigues has registered a team-high five points (two goals, three assists).
- Matthew Tkachuk has dished out a team-leading seven hits.
- Sam Reinhart has scored a power-play goal in each of the last two games.
- Kevin Stenlund has won a team-best 64.3% of his faceoffs.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Eetu Luostarinen – Matthew Tkachuk
Nick Cousins – Anton Lundell – Justin Sourdif
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Steven Lorentz
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Josh Mahura – Uvis Balinskis
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Oct. 17: F Will Lockwood recalled from Charlotte (AHL); F Mackie Samoskevich loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
- Oct. 16: F Jonah Gadjovich agreed to terms on a one-year contract
HOW TO WATCH
When: Thursday, October 19 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports+
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Tickets: Here
