The Florida Panthers will take their first place record on the road to the state of Nevada to face off against Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday for a puck drop time of 10:30 PM Eastern time. This game will be available on ESPN plus and NHL center ice. The Florida Panthers come into this game with a record on the season of 41 –13– six, and have won four out of the last five games coming against Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and most recently on the road against the San Jose Sharks by the score of 3–2. The only defeat for Florida came against the Los Angeles Kings on the road by the score of 3–2.
The Vegas Golden Knights come into this game with a record on the season of 32–26–4, and have lost their last five consecutive games are all coming on the road against Winnipeg, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and the Philadelphia Flyers. Vegas has been playing the majority of their games extremely shorthanded with Max Pacioretty out along with Mark Stone, Robin Lehner, Brett Howden, Ben Hutton, and Riley Smith. Back up goaltending has not helped with Laurent Brossoit having a record of 10–9 with a goals against average of 2.90 and the terrible save percentage of .895. The other option, is Logan Thompson who carries a goals against average of 3.56.
Jonathan Huberdeau is the team leader for Florida in points with 84, to go along with 19 goals and the team leader in assists with 65, 24 of those assist came on the power play as Jonathan Huberdeau is a +24 on the season. Aleksander Barkov is the team leader for Florida and goals were 26, none of those goals coming on the power play on 151 shots on goal this season.
Jonathan Marchessault is the Vegas Golden Knights team leader in points with 47, and then goals with 25, five of those goals coming on the power play on 185 shots on goal this season. Chandler Stevenson is the team leader for Vegas in assists with 31, seven of those coming on the power play as chandler Stevenson is a minus one on the year.
