The Panthers host the Hurricanes looking for their first win of 2025

The Florida Panthers face a tough opponent on Thursday night when they play their first game of 2025.

Florida welcomes the Carolina Hurricanes to Sunrise, a team full of firepower at the top that the Panthers are very familiar with.

Over the last few weeks, Carolina has lost four of six games but still maintains one of the top three spots in the Metropolitan Division.

They are looking for their first win of the season against the Panthers, as Florida has two wins in the two previous meetings between the former playoff opponents.

The Cats and Canes played a home-and-away game in late November, with the Panthers outscoring Carolina 12-3 and taking all four points.

Florida will play against the Hurricanes with the same lineup they used in Monday’s 5-3 win over the New York Rangers.

Forward Jonah Gadjovich and defenseman Niko Mikkola, both of whom are dealing with upper-body injuries, will not play against Carolina.

According to Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, they each ran separately from the rest of the team on Wednesday and are close to returning.

Here are Florida’s projected lines and matchups for Thursday’s matchup against the Hurricanes:

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 – Dmitry Kulikov

Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt

Scratchers: Niko Mikkola, Jonah Gadjovich

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