Taking down the top team in the Western Conference in their last outing, the Panthers grinded out a 2-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. In the win, Aleksander Barkov and Ryan Lomberg each lit the lamp, while Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 31 of 32 shots in net.
Set to take the crease against Chicago, Bobrovsky has posted a 3-1-0 record with a .957 save percentage over his last four starts while giving up just one goal at even-strength in that span.
"Bob's been really good," Lundell said of Bobrovsky, who's posted an 8-4-0 record over his last 12 starts. "He's been himself. He works super hard on and off the ice. He's always one of the first guys [to arrive] and last guys to leave the rink. It's so much fun to follow him and learn."
Matthew Tkachuk leads Florida in scoring with 81 points (28 goals, 53 assists), while Carter Verhaeghe is second on the team in points (55) and first in goals (32). Leading the club's defensemen, Brandon Montour has amassed a career-high 51 points (11 goals, 40 assists).
After posting three points (one goal, two assists) in five games since returning to the lineup following offseason Achilles surgery, Anthony Duclair will miss tonight's game due to an illness. In his absence, Casey Fitzgerald is expected to play as the Panthers are likely to roll with seven blueliners.
"Optimistic he's a player for us tomorrow," Panthers head coach Paul Maruice said of Duclair.
Although they're destined for the NHL Draft Lottery with a record of 22-37-5, the Blackhawks certainly aren't a team to be taken lightly. Within the past month, they've beaten several good teams, including the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars and Golden Knights.
On Monday, Alex Stalock stopped all 35 shots he faced to backstop the Blackhawks to a 5-0 win over the Senators. Providing more than enough support on offense, Seth Jones scored a pair of goals, while Philipp Kurashev, Jason Dickinson and Lukas Reichel each scored once.
In their previous meeting on Oct. 25, Chicago secured a 4-2 win over the Panthers.
"We know they've been good the last couple games," Lundell said. "They've been winning. They're going to be a dangerous team. We need to be ready for that. It's a different style of team. They've got nothing to lose. They'll be full of energy, and we have to be ready for that."
After shipping out both Max Domi and Patrick Kane at the NHL Trade Deadline earlier this month, Jones stands as Chicago's leading scorer with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists). After him, Taylor Raddysh is second with 28 points, including scoring a team-high 16 goals.
In net, both Petr Mrazek and Stalock have seen time as of late. Mrazek has gone 8-18-2 with a .891 save percentage his season, while Stalock sits at 7-8-1 with a .920 save percentage.
Finding a lot of success in Sunrise, the Panthers have posted a 7-1-2 record over their last 10 games against the Blackhawks at FLA Live Arena. Fueling Florida's offense, Barkov has recorded 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) over 22 career games against Chicago.
"It's not a matter of taking them lightly," Maurice said. "It's playing a style of game that Chicago's good at. We want to play the game that we play. Vegas is a good rush team as well. We respected Vegas and made sure we were above pucks and battled hard. We don't want to turn this into a puck game."
