The Florida Panthers visit the San Jose Sharks for their final stop on a four-game West Coast road trip on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Florida holds a strong historical edge, winning 12 straight games against San Jose since the 2018-19 season. Both teams enter off recent victories, with the Panthers beating the Kings 5-2 and the Sharks edging the Jets 2-1.
The Panthers (7-6-1) are 1-1-0 on their current road trip after a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Brad Marchand scored twice in that game, bringing his season total to nine goals. The 37-year-old winger is on a six-game point streak, including three straight games with goals, and has points in 11 of 13 games this season. "He's been performing at his peak for us," head coach Paul Maurice said of Marchand. "He's been fantastic."
Daniil Tarasov is expected to start in goal for Florida, with Sergei Bobrovsky as the backup. The Panthers' projected forward lines include Eetu Luostarinen--Anton Lundell--Brad Marchand, Carter Verhaeghe--Evan Rodrigues--Sam Reinhart, Jesper Boqvist--Sam Bennett--Mackie Samoskevich, and A.J. Greer--Cole Schwindt--Noah Gregor. On defense, pairings are Gustav Forsling--Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola--Seth Jones, and Donovan Sebrango--Jeff Petry.
The Sharks (6-6-3) won five of their last seven games, including a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Will Smith scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, assisted by Macklin Celebrini, who leads the NHL with 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists). Celebrini has five points (2G, 3A) over his last two games. "He's a guy that works hard and has a lot of skill," Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry said. "We have to make sure he's not getting the puck clean out of their defensive zone."
San Jose's projected lines feature Tyler Toffoli--Macklin Celebrini--Will Smith up top, with Yaroslav Askarov or Alex Nedeljkovic in net. Florida has won both meetings last season, 3-1 and 7-2. Key stats for the Panthers include Carter Verhaeghe with 12 points (4G, 8A) in 10 career games against San Jose and Anton Lundell's 54.4% road faceoff win percentage, ranking 10th in the NHL.
Injuries for Florida include Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Aleksander Barkov (knee), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body, expected three-month recovery after surgery). San Jose lists William Eklund (lower body), Nick Leddy (upper body), and Michael Misa (lower body) as out.