SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers are back on home ice today against the Winnipeg Jets.
And, yes, they finally have a homestand.
For the first time since December, the Panthers have a legitimate homestand going with games against the Jets (today at 4), Monday against the Buffalo Sabres, and Wednesday against the Boston Bruins.
Florida will go into the three-week Olympic break after playing the host Lightning on Thursday in Tampa.
With the Panthers coming into today eight points back in the playoff race, it is pretty obvious how big this week is.
The Panthers certainly do not want to go into Friday without a manageable chance of making the playoffs.
Four or five points back? Managable.
Eight or more? Yikes.
So, the Panthers have eight available points coming within the next week starting today against a Jets team that has lost three of four and five of their past seven.
The Jets are the seventh straight Western Conference opponent for the Panthers — and this is the second time these two have played (2-1 SO win for the Panthers) since last Thursday.
Florida could be without two key players today: Anton Lundell missed Thursday’s loss at St. Louis with an upper-body injury; Brad Marchand left that game in the second period.
Paul Maurice will speak at 1:30 and we will have the update then.
NOTES: JETS at PANTHERS
Starting Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to be back for the Panthers; Connor Hellebuyck meets the Panthers for the second time this month.
How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers are on local television today. To stream, use Panthers+ locally or ESPN+ nationally.
NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are favored (-145) on the money line at the local book. To win with Florida, a $145 bet wins $100.
ON DECK: GAME 54
WINNIPEG JETS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (28-22-3) LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 13 Sam Reinhart
11 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 10 A.J. Greer
95 Sandis Vilmanis // 79 Cole Schwindt // 71 Luke Kunin
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 26 Uvis Balinskis
22 Toby Bjornfot // 2 Jeff Petry
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
40 Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: Donovan Sebrango, Jesper Boqvist
Injured: Brad Marchand (lower body), Seth Jones (collarbone), Sasha Barkov (knee), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
PROJECTED WINNIPEG JETS (21-25-7) LINES
81 Kyle Connor // 55 Mark Scheifele // 9 Alex Iafallo
91 Cole Perfetti // 17 Adam Lowry // 13 Gabriel Vilardi
62 Nino Niederreiter // 19 Jonathan Toews // 7 Vladislav Namestnikov
45 Cole Koepke // 36 Morgan Barron // 14 Gustav Nyquist
44 Josh Morrissey // 2 Dylan DeMelo
54 Dylan Samberg // 57 Elias Salomonsson
64 Logan Stanley // 5 Luke Schenn
37 Connor Hellebuyck
1 Eric Comrie
Scratched: Danil Zhilkin, Isaak Phillips, Tanner Pearson
Injured: Haydn Fleury (bruised back), Colin Miller (knee), Neal Pionk (lower body)
