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Panthers Preview: April 5th, Florida Panthers at Ottawa Senators

The Panthers square off with the Senators in Ottawa, looking to end a three-game skid.
ByJames Turner|
Oct 10, 2024; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) chases the puck in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2024; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) chases the puck in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images | Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images

In my last piece, which you can read here, I mentioned I’m a sucker for wordplay. Sticking with the theme, I decided to give game previews their own alliterative treatment. So here is The Rat Trick’s first edition of Panthers Preview.

Saturday's game at the Canadian Tire Center will be an afternoon affair. The puck is scheduled to drop at 2:00 PM EST. The Cats and Sens are well on their way to postseason births, and every remaining game could have seeding implications.

Florida can officially punch their playoff ticket with a win in Ottawa. Alternatively, Saturday losses by the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets would seal a postseason spot for the Panthers.

Injuries on both sides

Both teams come into the game dealing with injuries. Most notably, the Tkachuk brothers will both be out for their respective squads. Matthew Tkachuk is on LTIR until the regular season’s end. Meanwhile, his younger brother and Sens Captain, Brady, is out with an upper-body injury. His timetable for return is unknown, but according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the team does not seem “concerned” about the severity.

The Senators will also be without forward Nick Cousins, while Florida will have to deal with the absences of Captain Sasha Barkov, Nico Sturm, Dmitry Kulikov, and Aaron Ekblad. Yesterday, Sturm was thought to return for this weekend’s games, but is now listed as out at least until Tuesday vs. Toronto.

The Panthers will need to look for production from their depth players if they aim to end their losing streak. Both teams play a hard-hitting, physical style of hockey, and Saturday should be no different.

Florida Panthers Projected lines for April 5th vs Ottawa

Forwards:

Jesper Boqvist–Sam Bennett–Sam Reinhart

Eetu Luostarinen–Anton Lundell–Brad Marchand

Carter Verhaeghe–Evan Rodrigues–Mackie Samoskevich

A.J. Greer–Tomas Nosek–Jonah Gadjovich

Defensemen:

Gustav Forsling–Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola–Nate Schmidt

Jaycob Megna–Uvis Balinskis

Goaltender:

Sergei Bobrovsky

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