Panthers road trip continues against Montreal squad fighting for playoff spot

Apr 2, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) scores a goal against Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault (35) during the first period at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)

The Florida Panthers will be looking to make it a perfect visit to Canada when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Fresh off Thursday’s 3-2 victory in Toronto, the Panthers will continue their nearly two-week road trip against the Canadiens squad desperate to keep pace in an extremely tight playoff race.

Entering play Saturday, Montreal is a single point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers, who are tied with 70 points for the final Wild Card spot in the East, though currently Columbus holds the tiebreaker with a game in hand on New York.

Montreal has been playing some solid hockey of late, and it’s been what has prolelled them back into the thick of the Wild Card hunt.

After enduring a stretch between January and February in which the Habs lost eight of nine, things have turned around significantly since the 4 Nations break for Montreal.

They’ve picked up points in eight of nine and are hoping to build on the 6-1-2 run that has, at least for now, saved their season.

The next week will go a long way toward Montreal maintaining their position as a playoff hopeful, as they’ll face Florida, the Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.

Ottawa and Colorado are currently holding playoff spots while the Islanders are four points back of the final Wild Card spot and fighting for every point they can get.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s matchup in Montreal:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Tomas Nosek

Gus Forsling – Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov

Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis

Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Brad Marchand

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