5 Florida Panthers Home Games To Attend in 2019-20

Game #1: Saturday, October 5th, Tampa Bay Lightning

There are going to be a lot of good games, but game one at home may be one of the better ones.

Not only is it the home debut of Sergei Bobrovsky and coach Joel Quenneville amongst multiple others, but it comes against the President’s Trophy winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Panthers and Lightning usually play each other tough, especially in Sunrise. No matter what the two team’s records tend to be, most games end closer than what they should.

Even if you aren’t a fan of either team and might just be trying to get into hockey, this is a game that a lot of neutrals will have their eyes on in the opening week.

For the Lightning, they may have an extra chip on their shoulder if Sergei Bobrovsky starts in net. Bobrovsky was a huge part of why Tampa Bay was swept in the first round of the playoffs last season, keeping the Bolts’ stars in Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Brayden Point (who are all very fun players to watch) off the scoreboard.

There will be a lot of very fun head-to-head matchups when these two square off, especially between the pipes. Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy, two of the best in the game, will have their work cut out for them throughout the three periods.

Most importantly, this is a major test for the Panthers. If they want to be seen as the best, they have to beat the best, and not many teams are better than the Lightning.

Game #2: Thursday, November 7th, Washington Capitals

Whenever the Washington Capitals are in town, there’s plenty of excitement to go around.

The Capitals, similar to Tampa Bay, will be one of the bigger tests for the Panthers this season. With their high-octane offense, defenseman like Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson will be heavily tested.

Pieces like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov (pending suspension), T.J. Oshie, and Nicklas Backstrom are always exciting players to watch live. While they haven’t made too many changes, they are still anticipated to be one of the better teams in the East.

Again, this is a game Panthers fans need to go to because it shows how Florida match up with the rest of the conference. Washington has consistently been one of the better regular-season teams in the Eastern Conference for the last decade and looks to continue that this year.

For Bobrovsky, he’s not just going to have to out-duel the Capitals forwards, but also Braden Holtby. The two had been the best goalies in the Metropolitan Division for the last few years, and both will look to challenge for the Vezina Trophy again this season.

This will also be Brett Connolly‘s first game against his former employers. Connolly spent the last three seasons wearing Capitals colors, recording 96 points in 217 for the D.C. club. Whether he has some inside info to help Joel Quenneville and the Cats will remain unknown, but he will surely play with extra passion against his former team.

Finally, this game marks the return of $5 beer Thursdays. This event will happen just 11 times from October to April, so be sure to pounce on it while you can. If you’re going to go, why not go against the best team that Thursday home games have to offer?

Game #3: Sunday, January 12th, 2020, Toronto Maple Leafs

This will be the team that I believe the Florida Panthers will be most competitive with. The Toronto Maple Leafs roster is still up in the air, but their goal has been set for the last three seasons: contend for the Stanley Cup.

Whenever Toronto comes to town, their fans typically travel very well. For them, it might be a nice vacation and get away from the frigid Canadian cold to see their team play, but we as fans need to make that vacation rougher on gameday.

Watching a game from a neutral perspective on TV, you can tell how many Toronto fans sit in the lower bowl of BB&T Center when the Leafs are in town. It’s embarrassing, the Leafs are almost 1,500 miles away and still, it seems like they have the majority of fans at BB&T.

This is a game Panthers fans are going to want to come to. In January, these two teams should surely both be in the thick of the top of the East. This is going to be a marquee Sunday matchup between two explosive offenses with issues defensively.

Last season, the Cats won both home games versus Toronto. They came in closely contested games with great saves and offensive explosiveness. There are going to be headline names on the cards: Aleksander Barkov, Auston Matthews, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mitch Marner (potentially), Sergei Bobrovsky, and John Tavares.

Those six are all players who are all potential all-stars this season, and should all show out at this game.

Game #4: Saturday, March 7th, 2020, Montreal Canadiens

For the first time on this list, the matchup features more than just a good game. On March 7th, the Florida Panthers will retire their 2nd number, the #1, for Roberto Luongo.

Luongo, who spent 11 seasons with the Panthers, holds multiple records for the club and should have every Panthers fan attending. Luongo is arguably the greatest player to don the Panthers colors in 25 seasons and should be honored appropriately by the fans.

The ceremony for Luongo should take place before puck drop, which is what happened the last time the Panthers raised a number to the rafters. The first time, the Panthers didn’t honor one of their former players, so this retirement will be the number one of both jersey numbers and honoring players.

For someone who did so much for this franchise and the community around BB&T, it shouldn’t be any more fitting that he is honored as such.

The game, meanwhile, should feature two teams fighting for playoff contention, with the Panthers and Montreal Canadiens believing they can push well above their weight this season. This should be a very-well coached game, as Coach Q and Claude Julien are two of the best that hockey has to offer.

Outside of that, Bobrovsky will face yet another Vezina Rival in Carey Price. Price, who had a 35-24-6 record last year with a 2.49 GAA, tends to always be a fun player to watch.

This game should be fun, but all attention should go to the jersey retirement.

Game #5: Saturday, April 4th, 2020, Washington Capitals

While I didn’t want to put the same team on the list twice, the Capitals happen to be in town for 2020’s Fan Appreciation Night. This game, which I’ve attended the last three seasons, tends to always be well attended and fun throughout the night, no matter what place the Panthers are in.

The night consists of giveaways of great appliances, gift cards, and tickets for future events throughout the crowd. Some gifts are simpler, $10 dollars towards Moe’s or pizza, while others include front row tickets to a super expensive concert, so being in the crowd gives a great chance at winning a prize.

Not to mention the lucky fans that get to receive a surprise jersey from one of the players on the roster (featured above). The fans chosen don’t know which player they get until after they step on the ice, where they unveil their card and get their player’s jersey.

Hopefully, this night will be one of two things. Firstly, it’ll be a celebration of this season’s successes between two teams who have already clinched their playoff births. The game will mean nothing, and the fans can come and enjoy the game and the prizes no matter the result. This game could also be a potential playoff matchup, as if the Panthers fail to finish above Tampa Bay, Boston, or Toronto, they could be the top wild card against Washington.

Secondly, which is the most important, is that this wouldn’t be the last competitive home game the Panthers play until October. As said, the night could be a celebration of playoffs and could see the Panthers celebrating after the game with the fans into the night.

Those are just five of the home games, but there are 41 others that may be just as exciting or even better throughout the year. The importance of the most recent Panthers’ motto is to try to turn South Florida into “Hockey Territory” and that comes with fans coming out and attending games.