FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers are back home and will celebrate Vamos Gatos Night at the arena with the slumping Vancouver Canucks in town.
Vancouver has been on the road for much of October — and are not done yet.
Panthers lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →
The Canucks have already played five games (losing all of them in regulation) with No. 7 on Saturday in Tampa.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have played six of their first seven away from their home along the Everglades. They’ll get two at home before going back out on the road.
“They are desperate right now after the past few games,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “That’s a challenge right there. We haven’t played many home games — and lost our last one here. We should be desperate as well.”
The Panthers will be without Radko Gudas as he misses his second straight game since getting popped on the knee during the second period in Buffalo on Monday.
Paul Maurice said Gudas could be back Saturday against the Kraken — or at least by Wednesday for the Tkachuk Bowl in Ottawa.
GAMEDAY NOTES: CANUCKS at PANTHERS
Starting Goalies: The Panthers will return to Akira Schmid for the second straight game with Cooper Black backing up. Jacob Markstrom skated Thursday and could be ready for Saturday, Maurice said. Vancouver is going back with Leevi Merilainen.
How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers are on Scripps once again tonight.
NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are heavy favorites at the local sports book. If you think the Panthers get a second straight win tonight, it will take a $300 money line wager to win $100.
ON DECK: GAME 8
VANCOUVER CANUCKS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM. Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: MoneyLine (-300); Puck Line -1.5 (-120); O/U 6.5 (+105/-130)
Season Series — At Florida: Thursday. At Vancouver: Jan. 9.
Last Season: Tied 1-1.
All-time Regular Season Series: Vancouver leads 22-14-4, 6 ties
Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Seattle Kraken, 6 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (3-2-2) LINES
8 Brady Tkachuk // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 13 Sam Reinhart // 20 Lars Eller
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 95 Sandis Vilmanis
14 Bokondji Imama // 16 Sam Lafferty // 21 Garnet Hathaway
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
7 Dmitry Kulikov // 26 Uvis Balinskis
40 Akira Schmid
31 Cooper Black
Scratched: None
Injured: Sasha Barkov (knee/LTIR), Brad Marchand (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body/LTIR), Jacob Markstrom (lower body), Radko Gudas (knee)
PROJECTED VANCOUVER CANUCKS (2-6-0) LINES
74 Jake DeBrusk // 40 Elias Pettersson // 88 Jonathan Lekkerimaki
92 Liam Ohgren // 23 Marco Rossi // 94 Linus Karlsson
47 Paul Cotter // 77 Filip Chytil // 6 Brock Boeser
18 Drew O’Connor // 63 Max Sasson // 7 Brendan Gallagher
25 Elias Pettersson // 17 Filip Hronek
4 Jamie Oleksiak // 5 Tom Willander
8 Zeev Buium // 90 Victor Mancini
31 Leevi Merilainen
32 Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Guillaume Brisebois, Luke Schenn, Arshdeep Bains, Aatu Raty (cleared waivers)
Injured: Thatcher Demko (hip)
George Richards is the publisher of Florida Hockey Now and has been the beat writer covering the NHL Florida … More about George Richards, FHN Publisher