Panthers Look To Extend Road Trip Success To Home Games
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) - The Florida Panthers look to ride the momentum from a perfect five-game road trip into the opener of their four-game homestand Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.
Florida completed the 5-0-0 trek with a 2-1 triumph in St. Louis on Monday that improved it to 8-1-1 in its last 10 overall contests and lifted it into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Panthers have allowed a total of four goals over their last three games but understand they can't rest on their laurels.
"We can't let this trip make our heads too big," center Nick Bjugstad told the Sun-Sentinel. "We've got to take the positives and keep moving on. There's still plenty of work to be done as far as the points column and win column, so it's going to be a fun little month and a half."
Edmonton is continuing a six-game road trip that began with a 3-1 victory in Chicago three days before the club dropped a 4-1 decision at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The Oilers wasted an opportunity to grab sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with the loss to the Lightning as they remained even in points with Anaheim with one game in hand.
Iiro Pakarinen scored Edmonton's lone goal on Tuesday, giving him three points in four games since returning from a knee injury he suffered during the preseason.
Connor McDavid (67 points) saw his lead over Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, who scored his league-leading 33rd goal on Tuesday, in the race for the Art Ross Trophy shrink to one point after being kept off the scoresheet in Tampa Bay. The 20-year-old captain, who capped a three-point performance with the overtime winner in a 4-3 home victory over Florida on Jan. 18, had recorded two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak prior to being blanked by the Lightning.
Vincent Trocheck, who also tallied in the overtime loss at Edmonton last month, scored his team-leading 21st goal with five seconds remaining in the third period Monday. The 23-year-old All-Star is riding a six-game point streak during which he has collected three tallies and five assists.
Jaromir Jagr was kept off the scoresheet in St. Louis, ending his point streak at five games, but needs one power-play goal to tie Joe Nieuwendyk (215) for 11th place on the NHL's all-time list.
OVERTIME
1. Oilers F Leon Draisaitl collected five points over three games to raise his season total to a career-high 52 before coming up empty on Tuesday.
2. Florida D Keith Yandle is two points shy of 400 for his career.
3. Edmonton D Oscar Klefbom has recorded five points over his last four contests and is tied with Andrej Sekera for the team lead among blue-liners with 25.
PREDICTION: Oilers 3, Panthers 2
By SportsDirect Inc.