The Florida Panthers will play their first road game of the new season tonight when they take on the Ottawa Senators.

No, we’re not talking about the Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk.

Nick Cousins is now a member of the Senators and will face his former Panthers teammates for the first time tonight.

Cousins ​​becomes the first former member of the Panthers to receive his Stanley Cup championship ring as he met some of his friends for dinner last night and was presented with his spectacular piece of jewelry.

And even though Cousins ​​has plenty of friends on the other side of the ice, he says he won’t hold back tonight.

The Panthers expect nothing less.

“It should be fun,” Cousins ​​said. “I told them last night that there are no deals. They know my game better than anyone and know that I will be looking forward to playing tonight. It’s Game 1…Really special, probably my favorite stop of my career. The coaches were great for me; The medical staff, training and equipment staff were great for me. Just the sight of it as I walked through the area today brought back many fond memories. There are relationships you build throughout your career, but when you win, those relationships are even more special.”

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Coach said Paul Maurice: “His personality in our room, how he interacted with the players in the game and on the bench, certainly his game: I think he’s underestimated in terms of the way he thinks about the game and certainly his Hands.” He can make plays. And he did. We had a pretty good run through the Eastern Conference and he played on the second line. I’m happy for him. It was great to see him. I think he can make an impact, enjoy his time in Canada and be a really good veteran for a young team.”

— The Panthers will be without defenders Adam Boqvist after shooting a puck out of his face on a clearing shot in Tuesday’s opening win over the Bruins.

Boqvist wears a full face mask; Maurice said he might be able to travel to Buffalo on Saturday.

Nate Schmidt will make his Panthers debut in his place – and could get some power play time tonight.

— The starting goalkeepers: Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Linus Ullmark.

Bobrovsky (1-0) makes his second straight start with Spencer Knight, who was recalled after being left from the opening night roster due to salary cap concerns.

Ullmark will make his first start for the Senators after being signed to a deal with the Bruins in the offseason.

– Tonight’s game will be televised locally on the new South Florida Scripps Network, with pregame beginning at 6:30 p.m

ON DECK: GAME 2

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT OTTAWA SENATORS

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m
• Where: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
• Local TV: Scripps Sports-WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
• Streaming: Panther+; ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Local odds – Panthers favored: money line (-140); Puck line (-1.5, +155); Over/Under 6.5 (+100/-120)
• This season (Panthers lead 2-0) – in Ottawa: Panthers 5, Senators 0 (November 27); Panthers 6, Senators 0 (April 4). In Florida: Panthers 3, Senators 2 OT (February 20); Panthers 2, Senators 0 (April 9).
• All-time regular season series: Ottawa leads 57-48-5, 3 ties
• Next up for the Panthers: Saturday in Buffalo, 7 p.m. (local TV)

PROJECTED LINES OF THE FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-0-0).

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

17 Evan Rodrigues // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

12 Jonah Gadjovich // 70 Jesper Boqvist // 10 AJ Greer

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

88 Nate Schmidt // 26 Uvis Balinskis

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

Scratched: None

Injured: Tomas Nosek (UBI), Justin Sourdif (UBI), Adam Boqvist (UBI)

Waived/sent to Charlotte: Chris Driedger, MacKenzie Entwistle

OTTAWA SENATORS PROJECTED LINES (0-0-0).

7 Brady Tkachuk // 18 Tim Stutzle // 28 Claude Giroux

71 Ridley Grieg // 9 Josh Norris // 19 Drake Batherson

57 David Perron // 12 Shane Pinto // 22 Michael Amadio

73 Noah Gregor // 81 Adam Gaudette // 21 Nick Cousins

85 Jake Sanderson // 2 Artem Zub

72 Thomas Chabot // 3 Nick Jensen

43 Tyler Klevin // 23 Travis Hamonic

35 Linus Ullmark

31 Anton Forsberg

Ottawa Senators lines courtesy of NHL.com