Jesse Puljujarvi

The rested Florida Panthers (43-25-3) will host the desperate Utah Hockey Club (32-29-11) for the first time at at Amerant Bank Arena tonight in front of a national TV audience on NHL Network.

The Charlotte Checkers clinched a playoff spot last night by thumping the Providence Bruins by a 5-2 count at Bojangles Arena, sweeping the back-to-back against Boston’s AHL’s affiliate.

The scoreboard was unkind to the Florida Panthers last night as both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning won in very convincing fashion.

Michael Benning scored with 1:01 left in overtime to lift the Charlotte Checkers to a 3-2 victory over the Utica Comets in the finale of a six-game road trip for Florida’s AHL affiliate.

Aleksander Barkov notched the only conversion and Sergei Bobrovsky was perfect in the shootout to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amerant Bank Arena.

The Florida Panthers (42-24-3) will look to avoid the season-series sweep when they visit the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals (46-15-8) at Capital One Arena.