FORT LAUDERDALE — Jeff Petry will be the latest Florida Panthers player to celebrate a milestone night on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Petry, who turns 38 on Dec. 9, will play in his 1,000th NHL game tonight.
Now in his 16th season and first with the Panthers, Petry says playing in 1,000 was something he never thought would ever happen.
“It’s something to be proud of,” Petry said after Monday’s morning skate at the IcePlex. “You are fortunate to play in one, so yeah, just enjoy it. It’s a good personal accomplishment and you can be proud of that. You just want to make sure that in playing a team game, there are a lot of players in here who have accomplished the ultimate dream and they want to do it again. What I am building to this season is to reach that.”
Petry played the bulk of his career with the Montreal Canadiens after being a second-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2006.
A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., Petry played collegiately at Michigan State and ended up going home in 2023 when he spent two seasons playing for the Detroit Red Wings.
Aside from the Oilers, Canadiens, and Red Wings, Petry also played a season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He signed a one-year deal with Florida on July 1, essentially replacing Nate Schmidt. He even took over Schmidt’s stall at the IcePlex.
“A thousand games is one of those stats that is respected by players a lot more,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We have seen some great milestones; Brad’s 1,000 points, Ovechkin 900 goals. But there is a large section of the league that is never going to be able to do that.’’
NOTEBOOK: CANUCKS AT PANTHERS
- The Panthers will be without Eetu Luostarinen tonight with Maurice saying he is dealing with a lower-body issue. Mackie Samoskevich worked on the top line at the morning skate but Maurice said a decision on what the top-6 will look like has not been officially determined.
- Uvis Balinskis returns to the lineup with Donovan Sebrango coming out after playing in the past seven games.
- Starting Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky is back in net for the Panthers; Jiri Patera will get his first start with the Canucks and first in the NHL since March 26, 2024 while with the Vegas Golden Knights. On Dec. 23, 2023, Patera made 38 saves for the Knights in a 4-2 loss to the Panthers in Sunrise.
- How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers are back on local television tonight. The game can also be streamed on ESPN+ and Panthers+.
- NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are heavy favorites (-300) on the money line at the local book. To win with the Panthers, a $300 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME 19
VANCOUVER CANUCKS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Monday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: MoneyLine (-300); Puck Line -1.5 (-115); O/U 6.5 (+105/-130)
- Season Series — At Florida: Monday. At Vancouver: Thursday.
- Last Season: Canucks Won 2-0.
- All-time Regular Season Series: Vancouver leads 21-13-4, 6 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. New Jersey Devils, 7
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (9-8-1) LINES
11 Mackie Samoskevich // 15 Anton Lundell // 63 Brad Marchand
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 13 Sam Reinhart
10 A.J. Greer // 9 Sam Bennett // 70 Jesper Boqvist
18 Noah Gregor// 79 Cole Schwindt // 71 Luke Kunin
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
26 Uvis Balinskis // 2 Jeff Petry
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
40 Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: Donovan Sebrango
Injured: Eetu Luostarinen (lower body), Sasha Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
PROJECTED VANCOUVER CANUCKS (9-9-2) LINES
91 Evander Kane // 40 Elias Pettersson // 8 Conor Garland
6 Brock Boeser // 63 Max Sasson // 44 Kiefer Sherwood
18 Drew O’Connor // 54 Aatu Raty // 74 Jake DeBrusk
20 Mackenzie MacEachern // 64 David Kampf // 73 Lukas Reichel
43 Quinn Hughes // 17 Filip Hronek
25 Marcus Pettersson // 57 Tyler Myers
25 Elias Pettersson // 5 Tom Willander
30 Jiri Patera
32 Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Arshdeep Bains, P.O Joseph, Linus Karlsson
Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Victor Mancini (undisclosed), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
