The Florida Panthers conclude their four-game West Coast road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday at T-Mobile Arena. The Panthers, with a 7-7-1 record, seek to improve on their 1-2-0 trip after a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Vegas enters at 7-3-4 following a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Anaheim Ducks.
The matchup marks the second and final regular-season meeting between the teams, with Florida having won the first 3-0 on October 25 at Amerant Bank Arena. In that game, Sergei Bobrovsky recorded a 17-save shutout, while A.J. Greer, Cole Schwindt, and Sam Reinhart scored the goals. Since their 2023 Stanley Cup Final loss to Vegas, the Panthers hold a 4-1-0 record against the Golden Knights.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice emphasized respect for the opponent after Monday's morning skate. "It’s certainly respect," Maurice said. "When you get beat by them, it’s still there. You still remember that series. We know what it’s like to be in here and it was a driver for us. That memory, that pain, I think set us on the course for the next two years."
Florida comes off a 3-1 loss to the Sharks, where they outshot San Jose 33-9 after the first period. Brad Marchand scored the lone goal, extending his point streak to seven games and goal streak to four. "We had plenty of chances to capitalize, but that’s how it goes sometimes," Marchand said. Eetu Luostarinen assisted on the goal, pushing his point streak to five games and points in seven of his last eight. Maurice praised Luostarinen: "Eetu doesn’t cheat the game, doesn’t cheat for points. If we can get a good, hard, defensive player that gets on a bit of a confident roll, as he should, we’re excited about that."
Luke Kunin is expected to return to the lineup in place of Noah Gregor, with one assist, 16 hits, and 12 blocked shots in 10 games this season. Bobrovsky will start in goal, holding a 7-3-0 career record against Vegas with a .910 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average.
For Vegas, which is 2-3-2 in its last seven games, Jack Eichel leads with 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists), including three assists in his last two outings. Sam Reinhart commented on his former Sabres teammate: "He's got one of the best shots in the league, especially for a pass first kind of guy. I think the whole league is kind of seeing that." Mitch Marner has 18 points (4 goals, 14 assists) and a team-high +9 rating. Carl Lindbom is slated to start, with a 0-2-1 record, .873 save percentage, and 3.36 goals-against average this season.
Evan Rodrigues noted the team's focus: "I think our game is in the right spot. We've done a lot of good things the past couple games, and it's just not getting frustrated, and just doing the right things over and over again. The results will come." Reinhart added about the October 25 win: "I think our pace and intensity was a high-level right from puck drop."
Key Panthers stats include Reinhart's 14 points (8 goals, 6 assists) in 15 career games against Vegas, Greer's team-leading 50 hits, Anton Lundell's points in six of eight games, 16 of Florida's 39 goals in the third period, and Niko Mikkola's 22 blocked shots.
Panthers Projected Lineup
Forwards: Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand; Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart; Jesper Boqvist – Sam Bennett – Mackie Samoskevich; A.J. Greer – Cole Schwindt – Luke Kunin
Defensemen: Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad; Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones; Donovan Sebrango – Jeff Petry
Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky, Daniil Tarasov
Golden Knights Projected Lineup
Forwards: Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Mitch Marner; Brandon Saad – Tomas Hertl – Pavel Dorofeyev; Reilly Smith – Brett Howden – Keegan Kolesar; Cole Reinhardt – Colton Sissons – Alexander Holtz
Defensemen: Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore; Noah Hanifin – Zach Whitecloud; Jeremy Lauzon – Kaedan Korczak
Goalies: Carl Lindbom, Akira Schmid
Injuries
Panthers: Aleksander Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder)
Golden Knights: Adin Hill (lower body), William Karlsson (lower body), Mark Stone (upper body)
Scratches: Panthers - Uvis Balinskis; Golden Knights - Ben Hutton
