Panthers make rare January home appearance as Sharks invade
The Florida Panthers look to build off the solid end to a road trip and keep pace in the crowded Eastern Conference race for a playoff spot when they host the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Florida just finished a six-game road trip with a 3-3-0 record. The Panthers lost the first two games but then bounced back to win three of the next four and end on a high note. Most recently, they earned a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday, a strong recovery after being dumped 9-1 by the Carolina Hurricanes the night before.
"It's a hard thing we went through for 48 hours," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "Back-to-back is not easy in this league. You're playing a team that's fighting for their playoff lives. I ran the top end really hard. We had a very difficult night emotionally (against the Hurricanes), and they handled it."
The Panthers woke up Sunday four points behind the Buffalo Sabres for the second wild-card spot, with two other teams in between.
Monday's contest will be a brief stop at home for the Panthers, who are 14-9-3 as hosts this season. After squaring off against the Sharks, they'll hit the road again for four of their next five games, beginning with three in four days against the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks.
Florida is inching closer to having two key pieces back in its lineup. Wingers Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand are nearing returns from their respective absences. Tkachuk has yet to play this season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia on Aug. 22. Marchand has missed five games with an undisclosed injury.
"Neither one of those guys should be out very much longer," Maurice said.
Marchand is second on the team in goals (23) and points (46) and shares the team lead in assists (23) with Sam Reinhart, who sits atop the other two categories.
The Sharks arrive in Florida for the third game of a four-game swing through the Eastern Conference.
After winning six of seven from Dec. 27 to Jan. 10, San Jose has been up and down in its past three outings, alternating wins and losses. The team is coming off a 4-2 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
"I thought our guys worked hard," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "It is just that our brains weren't turned out. Our puck play was horrendous. (Yaroslav Askarov) made some big saves and gave us a chance to win the hockey game, but we didn't take it."
Despite their recent struggles, the Sharks entered Sunday in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 51 points. That total is tied with three of their division rivals -- the Seattle Kraken, who are third in the Pacific Division, and their fellow Californians in Los Angeles and Anaheim. San Jose has a game in hand on both the Kings and Ducks.
Sophomore forward Will Smith returned to play against Detroit after missing 13 games due to an upper-body injury and scored his 13th goal of the season. The 20-year-old, who has played 34 games this season, is five goals and 15 points away from matching the totals from his 74-game rookie season.