The NHL’s annual vacation is over.
Half of the league’s 32 teams saw their respective schedules resume Friday, but the Florida Panthers enjoyed an extra night before getting back into it.
They will now host the Montreal Canadiens for a great Saturday afternoon matinee at Amerant Bank Arena.
This is the first of four meetings this season between the two Atlantic Division rivals.
Montreal comes to South Florida with wins in six of its last 10 games.
They currently sit in fifth place in the division, but the first Atlantic team not to make the playoffs.
Entering play Saturday, the Habs are 14-17-3, seven points behind the Ottawa Senators for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Montreal will welcome back 23-year-old rookie Jakub Dobes in goal after calling him up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Friday.
Dobes, a 2020 fifth-round pick who followed a solid season with Laval last year to embark on another strong campaign this time around, will make his NHL debut.
As for Florida, the Cats will be as close to full strength as they have been in a while.
Only defenseman Niko Mikkola and forward Jonah Gadjovich are unable to play, each dealing with respective upper-body injuries.
In goal, the Panthers will turn to backup Spencer Knight.
The young goaltender is coming off a strong start in Tampa Bay on Sunday in which he earned a win while allowing two goals on 21 shots.
On the season, Knight holds a 6-5-1 record with a 2.78 goals-against average and .891 save percentage.
Here are Florida’s projected duos and duos for Saturday’s matinee with Montreal:
Evan Rodrigues-Sasha Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
AJ Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich
Gus Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Adam Boqvist – Dmitri Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Stripes: Niko Mikkola, Jonah Gadjovich
LATEST HOCKEY NEWS STORIES – FLORIDA
Training notebook: the Panthers return from vacation as a healthier and more motivated group
Panthers hope to return from vacation with injury and illness issues behind them
Paul Maurice’s incredible coaching career may still have a long way to go
Under Bill Zito, the Panthers are no longer on the naughty list
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from THN Florida
