Rangers at Panthers
The Florida Panthers' sizzling play since the All-Star break has propelled the Sunshine State representatives into the conversation for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Boasting a 14-3-1 mark in their last 18 games, the Panthers look to continue their surge and record a franchise-record eighth straight home win on Saturday when they host the New York Rangers.
"We know what we have to do at home to get where we need to be," said Panthers coach Bob Boughner, who saw Roberto Luongo turn aside all 40 shots he faced in Thursday's 5-0 romp over Montreal to improve his save percentage to .938 in his last 19 games. Evgenii Dadonov and fellow forward Vincent Trocheck each scored and set up a goal, giving the former 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in his past 13 games while the latter has 12 (eight goals, four assists) in that stretch. Henrik Lundqvist will be tasked with slowing down that duo while making his 800th career NHL appearance on Saturday. The 2012 Vezina Trophy recipient, who was pulled after yielding four goals in Thursday's 5-3 setback to Tampa Bay, sports a 17-5-1 mark with two shutouts in his last 24 appearances versus Florida.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), FS Florida
ABOUT THE RANGERS (30-32-6): While New York's fortunes haven't been overly positive this season, Ryan Spooner is making quite the impression as he continued his torrid stretch on Thursday with a goal and two assists. The 26-year-old has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in six games since being acquired from Boston on Feb. 25 and seven (three goals, four assists) in his past eight versus Florida. Fellow forward Kevin Hayes scored and set up a goal versus the Lightning to boost his career-high goal total to 19 this season and his point total to 14 (eight goals, six assists) in his past 14 games.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (33-25-7): Frank Vatrano, who has been sidelined since Feb. 6 with a high-ankle sprain, is expected to make his debut with his new team on Saturday. "If he feels good, we're going to play him (Saturday) night," Boughner said Friday of the 23-year-old Vatrano, who was acquired from the Bruins on Feb. 22 for a third-round pick. Vatrano is expected to be paired on the team's second line with Jonathan Huberdeau (career-best 21 tallies) and Trocheck (team-leading 26 goals).
OVERTIME
1. Florida C Aleksander Barkov has five goals and nine assists during his eight-game point streak.
2. New York owns a 10-2-2 mark against the Panthers since the start of the 2013-14 season.
3. Florida D Keith Yandle, who is a former Ranger, set up three tallies on Thursday to increase his point total to 20 (two goals, 18 assists) in the past 18 games.