Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Florida Panthers (22-28-7, 51 points) and Carolina Hurricanes (25-21-9, 59 points) skate against each other for the second of three meetings this season live from the PNC Arena in North Carolina. The game can be live streamed here. Florida fans can hear all of the action on WQAM 560 while Carolina fans can do the same on 99.9 The Fan.
Florida enters play having lost four of its last five games while Carolina has won three of its last five. The first time these two former division rivals met, the Hurricanes beat the Panthers 3-2 in North Carolina on Jan. 18.
The Hurricanes may get goaltender Cam Ward (lower-body) back for the first time since Dec. 31, but coach Kirk Muller isn't sure whether or not he'll earn the starting job back right away.
"Truthfully, we find with our group, we work better day-by-day," Muller said, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. "If we get into the big picture -- where you are in the standings, we need to pick up six points here, where you might be -- for whatever reason our group just works better focusing on the day at hand."
Before the injury, Ward was 6-7-5 with a 3.15 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage. If he starts, he'll likely be opposed by Tim Thomas, who is 15-17-3 with a 2.72 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
The Panthers are coming off of a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday where the team only registered 24 shots on goal.
"We need shots," defenseman Mike Weaver told NHL.com. "You're not going to score in this league if you're not getting a lot of shots, and we had eight shots in [the first] two periods. You can't do that. We've got to create more from the point in throwing shots to the net and getting traffic. It's simple."
Brad Boyes has paced Florida with 15 goals and is tied for the team lead with 26 points while notching 11 assists while Scottie Upshall also has 26 points and is 1-2-3 in his last four games while racking up 10 tallies and 16 helpers this season, and Brian Campbell has found the back of the net five times and added 20 assists for 25 points.
Eric Staal has led Carolina with 44 points off of 14 goals and 30 assists while Jeff Skinner has lit the lamp 23 times and added 15 helpers for 38 points and Andrej Sekera has found the twine eight times and added 23 assists for 31 points.
Two former division rivals square off when the Panthers and Hurricanes hit the ice at the PNC Arena tonight in North Carolina.
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