Matchday 9: Florida Panthers at New York Rangers

The Florida Panthers (4-3-1) will open a three-game road trip through the Empire State when they take on the New York Rangers (5-0-1) tonight at legendary Madison Square Garden.

Florida finally got Matthew Tkachuk back on Tuesday, but it wasn't enough to defeat the Minnesota Wild, who handed the Panthers a 5-1 loss. Tkachuk recorded the second assist on the Cats' only goal, scored by Sam Bennett, with the primary assist going to Carter Verhaeghe. Sergei Bobrovsky will look to bounce back from a rocky start that saw him concede five goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Spencer Knight.

While the Panthers were defeated by the Wild, the Rangers were busy defeating the Montreal Canadiens 7-2 at the Bell Centre. Filip Chytil (2G/1A) and Kaapo Kakko (1G/2A) each scored three points in the win. Artemi Panarin is off to a flying start with 13 points, one behind league leader Cale Makar.

• WHEN: 7pm ET
• WHERE: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
• ON THE TUBE: Scripps, MSG
• ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (keys)
• SOCIAL: #TimeToHunt, #NYR, #FLAvsNYR, @LitterBoxCatsLBC FaceBook
• Enemy information: Blueshirt banter
• FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
• LAST MEETING: @NYR 4, FLA 3 (SO) (Abstract) – 03/23/2024
• NEXT MEETING: December 30, 2024
• PROPOSED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (3-2-1 .875 / 3.47 0SO) New York: Shesterkin (4-0-1 .932 / 1.98 1SO)
• PLAYER STATISTICS: Florida/New York

Thursday in the Atlantic (Rankings/Panthers playoff chances)

• Dallas (5-2-0 10P) at BOSTON (3-3-1 7P) 7 p.m
• St. Louis Blues (4-3-0 8P) at TORONTO (4-2-0 8P) 7 p.m
• New Jersey (5-3-1 11P) at DETROIT (3-3-0 4P) 7 p.m
• Minnesota (4-0-2 8P) at TAMPA BAY (4-2-0 8P) 7 p.m

Idle: OTT (8P), BUF (7P), MON (5P)