FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers hope to have some of that added ‘dad strength’ from Carter Verhaeghe tonight when they play host to the Nashville Predators.
“Bob said my shot was a little harder today,” Verhaeghe said with a grin Thursday morning. “I hope that’s the case.”
Verhaeghe missed Florida’s game on Tuesday to be with his wife Casey as they welcomed Rory into the world.
The Panthers were all excited to welcome the newest dad on the team back on Thursday.
“I think our PeeWee team in 10 years is going to be awesome,’’ Paul Maurice said. “I’d buy tickets to that.’’
The Panthers come into tonight having lost three straight and four of five. All four of those loses have come at home, the team’s longest home losing streak since the end of the 2023-24 season.
The last win Florida got came before Thanksgiving when they trounced Nashville 8-3.
The Panthers do not expect a repeat performance from the Predators tonight, not after they have won three of four since.
Aside from having Verhaeghe back, the Panthers are making a change to their bottom defensive pairing.
Maurice said Jeff Petry is coming out of the lineup tonight both for performance as well as an opportunity to get Donovan Sebrango back in.
Petry and Maurice had a conversation about “getting to a different level i his game,’’ and thought “the two prior, he did, and I was excited about where he was going with that.’’
But Petry did not have his best night Tuesday against the Leafs and got beat twice on Toronto’s second goal.
Sebrango has not played since the Edmonton loss on Nov. 22.
“I wanted to get Donovan back in and you’re kind of waiting for that door to open,’’ Maurice said.
“I don’t like to overreact with defensemen if he makes a mistake … but this seems like the right time. It is as much opportunity for the guy who has been out, he has worked hard. I don’t feel any one of them has solidified the job.’’
NOTEBOOK: PREDATORS AT PANTHERS
The Panthers are celebrating SoFlorida Night with a special merchandise collection available based off work designed by Josh Ariza.
Starting Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky will be back in net for the Panthers after making 26 saves against the Maple Leafs. Nashville is expected to go with Juuse Saros.
How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers are back on local television tonight; the game can be streamed at Panthers+ and ESPN+.
NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are pretty solid favorites (-190) on the money line at the local book. To win with the Panthers, a $190 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 26
NASHVILLE PREDATORS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (12-12-1) LINES
63 Brad Marchand // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 A.J. Greer // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 11 Mackie Samoskevich
18 Noah Gregor// 53 Jack Studnicka // 71 Luke Kunin
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
6 Donovan Sebrango // 26 Uvis Balinskis
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
40 Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: Jeff Petry, Jack Devine
Injured: Eetu Luostarinen (lower body), Sasha Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Cole Schwindt (broken arm)
PROJECTED NASHVILLE PREDATORS (9-13-4) LINES
91 Steven Stamkos // 90 Ryan O’Reilly // 77 Luke Evangelista
9 Filip Forsberg // 56 Erik Haula // 81 Jonathan Marchessault
58 Michael Bunting // 17 Tyson Jost // 89 Ozzy Wiesblatt
49 Reid Schaefer // 40 Fedor Svechkov // 71 Matthew Wood
24 Spencer Stastney // 59 Roman Josi
76 Brady Skjei // 37 Nick Blankenburg
41 Nicolas Hague // 83 Adam Wilsby
74 Juuse Saros
29 Justus Annunen
Scratched: None
Injured: Cole Smith (lower body), Michael McCarron (lower body), Justin Barron (lower body), Nick Perbix (upper body)
