The Florida Panthers are working through a bit of adversity in the early stages of the NHL season.
While Florida has already had to maneuver through a stretch of games without several of their key players in the lineup, this is the first time any struggles have been reflected in game results.
Over the past week, the Panthers have dropped consecutive home games, both to the Metropolitan Division leading New Jersey Devils.
Now the Panthers hold an 11-5-1 record, good enough for the top spot in the Atlantic Division but just one point ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If Florida is looking for a challenge to get back on the right track, they need look no further than their opponent on Saturday.
The Winnipeg Jets are the best team in the NHL this season and, at least so far, by a wide margin.
Winnipeg’s loss on Thursday in Tampa Bay was just their second of the season. They’re currently 15-2-0 and will certainly be looking to avoid dropping consecutive games for the first time since last season’s playoffs.
The Jets are paced by five players all skating at a point per game pace or better.
Defensemen Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk each have 17 points through Winnipeg’s first 17 games while Nikolaj Ehlers has 20 points, Mark Scheifele has 21 and Kyle Connor leads the way with 22.
Connor has also scored 11 goals while Scheifele and Ehlers each have netted nine.
This is the first of consecutive matchups between the Panthers and Jets. They’ll face off again on Tuesday at Canada Life Center in Winnipeg.
Last season, Florida lost both contests against Winnipeg by a combined score of 9-4, including a 3-0 shutout by Connor Hellebuyck in Sunrise.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s battle with Winnipeg:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Adam Boqvist
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