The Florida Panthers did not get off to a good start on Saturday night in Montreal, and it cost them.
If the Cats want to bounce back on Sunday and avoid a pair of losses in consecutive days, they’ll need to show up from the start.
Just as hungry as the Canadiens were in their home barn, you better believe the New York Islanders are just as desperate for every point in the standings they can get.
Entering play Sunday, the Isles find themselves six points back of the New York Rangers for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, and with four teams to climb over just to reach their crosstown rivals.
Florida, meanwhile, remains atop the Atlantic Division, currently holding a four point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, who each have 81 points.
Only four points back of the Bolts and Leafs and turning some heads as they climbed up the standings are the Ottawa Senators, another team the Cats will need to keep an eye on as the postseason draws closer.
In terms of recent play, both the Panthers and Islanders have left something to be desired.
Florida has dropped two of three on their current six-game road trip while the Islanders have lost three straight and are in danger of falling too far behind in the Wild Card race.
The Panthers will likely turn to Vitek Vanecek in goal on the back end of the back-to-back after Sergei Bobrovsky played on Saturday night in Montreal.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s tilt on Long Island:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Tomas Nosek
Gus Forsling – Seth Jones
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis
Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Brad Marchand
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