The Florida Panthers are looking to extend their point streak to eight games when they face the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Florida has a 6-0-1 record in its last seven games, winning the past three. This is the second seven-game point streak of the season for the Panthers, after they won seven games in a row from Oct. 24-Nov. 9.
On Tuesday, the Panthers began a five-game road trip with a 2-1 shootout win against the Seattle Kraken. Despite outshooting Seattle 33-18, Kraken goalie Joey Daccord made 32 saves to keep Florida’s offense from scoring more.
The Panthers typically rely on scoring many goals, but they found a way to win with a low score. This was Florida’s first win of the season when scoring two or fewer goals (1-7-1).
“I thought we played great,” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. “We played strong offensively. We kept the puck. They defended well. In those kinds of games, it’s all about focus and concentration because every moment could be the biggest moment of the game.”
Bobrovsky had a relatively easy night, stopping 17 of 18 shots. He is expected to start again on Thursday.
The Panthers have a 9-4-1 record on the road this season, and they are tied with the Winnipeg Jets for the most road points (75) in the NHL since the start of the 2023-24 season.
In contrast, the Canucks have struggled at home with a 4-6-4 record this season. In their most recent home game, Jake DeBrusk scored the equalizer at 18:08 in the third period, but Vancouver lost 4-3 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
The Canucks have a 1-1-2 record in their past four games.
Vancouver had 25 shots against St. Louis, and their average of 26.7 shots per game is one of the lowest in the league. Elias Pettersson pointed to his fluky power-play goal on Tuesday, which was tipped in by Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, as an example of how putting more pucks on net can lead to unexpected results.
“Stay with it, shoot the puck, recover, shoot the puck,” Pettersson said. “It sounds cliched, but that power-play goal shows it. … We’ve just got to play with that intensity. Shoot the puck, recover, and continue a shooting mentality.”
The hot streak of Jake DeBrusk continues, as he has scored 10 goals (and two assists) over his past nine games. DeBrusk leads Vancouver with 13 goals, while Quinn Hughes leads the team in points (32) and assists (25).
Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov is also in great form, with 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his current seven-game point streak.
In his first game since April, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko stopped 21 of 25 shots on Tuesday. The Canucks will keep an eye on Demko’s recovery from a knee injury, and Kevin Lankinen might start against Florida if Demko isn’t ready to play back-to-back games.
The two teams met earlier this season in Sunrise, Florida, where the Canucks won 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 17.
