Inside The Rink Game Day Preview
Florida Panthers (1-0-0) at Ottawa Senators (0-0-0)
Date: Thursday, October 10
Canadian Tire Center – Kanata, Ontario
Time: 7:00 pm EST
TV: ESPN+
DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Florida +1.5 PL +185
Ottawa -1.5 PL -230
O/U 5.5
Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster
Florida Panthers Notes:
The Panthers are on a mission to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Florida returns eight of their nine top-six forwards from that team and picked up where they left off on Tuesday night against Boston with a six-goal effort.
Ottawa Senators Notes:
The Senators play their season opener tonight. Ottawa had a 37-41-4 record overall and went 15-9-2 in Atlantic Division games last season. The Senators scored 3.0 goals per game last season while allowing 3.4 per game.
Florida Panthers Lineup:
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Rodrigues-Bennett-Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Lundell-Samoskevich
Gadjovich-J. Boqvist-Greer
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Kulikov
Balinskis-A. Boqvist
Bobrovsky
Knight
Ottawa Senators Lineup:
Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux
Greig-Norris-Batherson
Perron-Pinto-Amadio
Gregor-Gaudette-Cousins
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Hamonic
Ullmark
Forsberg
Players To Watch:
Florida – Sam Bennett scored two goals in the season-opening win over Boston. A player who is regarded as the “soul of the team” and been called an “identity player” by coach Paul Maurice last season, Bennett figures to play an important role again if Florida is to hoist the Cup one more time at the end of this season. Maurice has often said Bennett exemplifies the kind of physical player he wanted the Panthers to emulate.
Ottawa – Linus Ullmark makes his debut with the Senators after signing a four-year, $33 million contract with the club. The 31-year-old has one more season left on a deal that carries a $5 million average annual value. His new contract, which begins in the 2025-26 season, has an AAV of $8.25 million — the same salary cap hit as his former Bruins crease-mate Jeremy Swayman of Boston, who signed an eight-year contract Sunday.
Injuries:
Florida – Tomas Nosek (Undisclosed)
Ottawa – Matthew Highmore (Upper Body)
Next game
Florida – October 12 at Buffalo at 7 pm EST.
Ottawa – October 12 vs Montreal at 7 pm EST.
