FLORIDA PANTHERS NOTES:
BAPTIST HEALTH INJURY REPORT –
D Josh Mahura | Games Missed: 11
Total Man Games Lost Due to Injury: 64 Games
PANTHERS vs. KRAKEN
ALL-TIME vs. SEA: 2-3-0
ALL-TIME ROAD vs. SEA: 1-1-0
2023-24 vs. SEA: 1-0-0
CATS STATS
– The Panthers have scored five goals in eight of their 27 games played. – Matthew Tkachuk has amassed 11 points (7-4-11) in seven career games played against Seattle. – Aleksander Barkov (+21), Sam Reinhart (+18) and Evan Rodrigues (+15) lead all NHL forwards in plus-minus rating through games played Dec. 10
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Cats picked up a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first game of their longest road trip of the season, before heading out west to visit the Kraken, Canucks, Oilers and Flames. The Panthers are 8-4-2 on the road this season and are tied for seventh in the league in road wins (8) with Winnipeg, Boston and Vancouver.
CATS AND KRAKEN
The Panthers face off against the Kraken for the second and final meeting in 2023-24. The Cats claimed the first victory of the series with a 3-2 win at Amerant Bank Arena. Down 2-0 midway through the second frame, Gustav Forsling, Matthew Tkachuk and Nick Cousins each scored unanswered goals to secure the victory in regulation. Four Panthers defenseman found themselves on the scoresheet with Dmitry Kulikov (0-2-2), Josh Mahura (0-1-1) and Niko Mikkola (0-1-1) each picking up assists. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky posted a .939 save percentage.
TAKING STOCK
The Panthers skated in their 27th game of the season Dec. 10 at Columbus, earning their 17 th win of the campaign (17-8-2). Crossing the 27-game threshold, the Panthers rank highly across several league metrics following games played Dec. 10: • Florida’s 2.52 goals against ranks fourth fewest among teams. • The Panthers 34.0 shots on goal per game rank behind only CAR (34.2) for the league lead. • The Cats 27.4 shots against per game rank third in the league behind CAR and LAK. • Florida’s 21 third-period goals against this season are the third fewest allowed. • The Cats 35 third-period goals for this season ranks tied for third most scored with COL. • The Panthers 41 5v5 goals against are tied for second fewest allowed with BOS.
SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES – (MAN GAMES LOST: 50)
Jaden Schwartz (upper body; IR) – 5 games – week-to-week
Andre Burakovsky (upper body; IR) – 2 games – week-to-week
Philipp Grubauer (no designation; IR) – 1 game – no timeline for return
Justin Schultz (upper body) – 1 game – day-to-day
GAME NOTES
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s game is the fourth of six consecutive games the Kraken will play at Climate Pledge Arena, which is tied for their longest homestand of the season. o The team will also play six straight games at home from Feb. 19 to March 2. • The Kraken have not allowed a power-play goal against in the last five games they have played at Climate Pledge Arena, going 11-for-11 on the penalty kill during that span. • Tye Kartye has scored five goals this season, which was tied for seventh among all NHL rookies this season entering play Monday. He is on pace to finish the season with 15 goals, which would mark the first time an undrafted rookie scored at least 15 goals in a season since Tanner Jeannot had 24 goals for the Nashville Predators in 2021-22. • Yanni Gourde is currently six points shy of recording 300 career points. When he reaches the milestone, he will become the seventh undrafted, active skater to total at least 300 points in his career. • The defensive pair of Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak are pacing to finish the year with 20 and 17 assists, respectively, both of which would be career highs for the defensemen. • Oleksiak is leading the Kraken and was tied for fourth in the NHL with 71 blocked shots entering play Monday.
FAMILIAR FOES
• Jared McCann played for Florida for parts of three seasons (2016-17 to 2018-19), totaling 53 points (18 goals, 35 assists) in 143 regular-season games. • Alex Wennberg played for the Panthers during the 2020-21 season, recording 29 points (17 goals, 12 assists) and setting a career high in goals. • Chris Driedger played for the Panthers from 2019-20 to 2020-21 and was Seattle’s expansion pick from Florida. He posted a 21-8-4 record with a .931 save percentage, 2.07 goals-against average and four shutouts during that span. • Additionally, assistant coach Dave Lowry played for Florida from 1997-98 to 1999-00 and assistant coach Paul McFarland held the same role for the Panthers from 2017-18 to 2018-19.
KRAKEN’S RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OT (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 3-5-2 (8), 23/34, 7/28, 20/26
11-20: 4-3-3 (11), 23/38, 8/33, 24/35
21-30: 1-5-2 (4), 19/25, 3/31, 17/18
