Florida Panthers (45-17-4, first in the Atlantic Division) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (39-20-6, second in the Metropolitan Division)
Raleigh, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: The Florida Panthers visit the Carolina Hurricanes after Aleksander Barkov Jr.'s two-goal game against the Dallas Stars in the Panthers' 4-3 win.
Carolina has a 39-20-6 record overall and a 21-9-4 record in home games. The Hurricanes have scored 215 total goals (3.3 per game) to rank 10th in NHL play.
Florida is 45-17-4 overall and 24-8-2 in road games. The Panthers have an 18-4-1 record in games they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponents.
The matchup Thursday is the third time these teams square off this season. The Hurricanes won 1-0 in the last meeting.
TOP PERFORMERS: Sebastian Aho has 25 goals and 43 assists for the Hurricanes. Andrei Svechnikov has scored four goals and added seven assists over the last 10 games.
Carter Verhaeghe has 31 goals and 35 assists for the Panthers. Sam Reinhart has seven goals and three assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Hurricanes: 6-3-1, averaging 2.9 goals, 5.2 assists, 3.8 penalties and 8.1 penalty minutes while giving up 1.8 goals per game.
Panthers: 8-2-0, averaging 3.2 goals, 5.5 assists, five penalties and 11.3 penalty minutes while giving up 1.9 goals per game.
INJURIES: Hurricanes: Jake Guentzel: day to day (upper body), Jack Drury: day to day (lower body).
Panthers: Aaron Ekblad: out (lower-body), Kyle Okposo: day to day (not injury related), Evan Rodrigues: day to day (lower-body).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
