SUNRISE, Fla. – Florida Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is skating in his 1,000th National Hockey League regular season game tonight vs. the Los Angeles Kings. The Panthers will honor Kulikov’s milestone in a pregame ceremony prior to Florida’s 6 p.m. (ET) game against the New York Islanders on Sunday, Feb. 2 at Amerant Bank Arena.

For going on three seasons now, the Florida Panthers’ Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad have consistently been one of the NHL’s top defense pairings. But getting to that consistently high level was a result of evolution by both players.

There is hope that the Panthers will get defenseman Aaron Ekblad back in the lineup at some point while they're out west. Ekblad has been battling an undisclosed injury and missed each of Florida's past five games.

After missing each of the last seven games, top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad will return to the blue line for the Florida Panthers when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

A crucial piece on the blue line, Ekblad, despite missing time due to his injury, still leads Florida’s defensemen in both assists (18) and points (20). He also ranks third in hits (59) and blocked shots (56), while averaging a team-leading 23:32 of ice time per contest.

The Florida Panthers are set to bolster their blue line with the return of defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who has missed the past seven games due to an upper-body injury.

Sergei Bobrovsky is the proven veteran. Spencer Knight is on a bit of a hot streak. How does that impact how Paul Maurice is going to handle reps between his two goaltenders?

The Florida Panthers could have defenseman Aaron Ekblad back in the lineup tonight against the San Jose Sharks, coach Paul Maurice said. Ekblad has missed eight games, including the past seven, after blocking a shot against the Penguins in the first period on Jan.

Ekblad (upper body) skated before Monday's practice and felt better than he thought he would, per Jameson Olive of the Panthers' official site. Ekblad has missed the last five games, and it remains unclear if he will play against Anaheim on Tuesday.

Revenge is best served cold and on the ice… at least in hockey.  Exactly one week after the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Florida Panthers 2-1 at Crypto.com arena in Southern California, the Panthers returned the favor,

The Vancouver Canucks are at a crossroads with one of Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller likely getting traded before the March 7 deadline. The longtime spat between the two players has finally broken containment and is the talk of the league. President Jim Rutherford publicly addressed it, and a trade feels like the only logical resolution.