Panthers eye more road success in visit to Vancouver

The Florida Panthers aim to extend their point streak to eight games when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Florida is 6-0-1 in its last seven games, having won the past three. It's the Panthers' second seven-game point streak of the season, after Florida won seven games in a row from Oct. 24-Nov. 9.

On Tuesday, the Panthers opened a five-game road trip by knocking off the Seattle Kraken 2-1 in a shootout. Despite the Panthers' 33-18 shots advantage, a 32-save performance from Kraken goalie Joey Daccord kept the Florida offense at bay.

Low-scoring games have been a challenge for a Panthers team that relies on its ability to fill the scoresheet. However, Florida kept grinding and came away with its first win this 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 quiet night, stopping 17 of 18 shots. He likely will start again Thursday.

The Panthers are 9-4-1 in away games 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.

By contrast, the Canucks have struggled to a 4-6-4 record on home ice this season. In their latest home date, Jake DeBrusk scored the equalizer at 18:08 of third period, but Vancouver still came up short in a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.

The Canucks are 1-1-2 in their past four games.

Vancouver had 25 shots against St. Louis, and its average of 26.7 shots per game is among the lowest in the league. Elias Pettersson pointed to his fluky power-play goal on Tuesday (which was accidentally tipped in by Blues defenseman Colton Parayko) as an example of how getting more pucks toward the net can lead to success, even in unplanned ways.

"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 red-hot DeBrusk has been following that mantra by scoring 10 goals (with two assists) over his past nine games. DeBrusk leads Vancouver with 13 goals, while Quinn Hughes is tops in points (32) and assists (25).

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov is also on a roll, with 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a seven-game point streak.

In his first game since April, Vancouver's Thatcher Demko stopped 21 of 25 shots on Tuesday. The Canucks will continue to monitor Demko's recovery from his knee injury, and Kevin Lankinen might start against Florida if Demko isn't ready to play consecutive games.

The teams met earlier this season in Sunrise, Fla., with the Canucks winning 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 17.

--Field Level Media