Jacob Trouba: Trouba's nonchalance in his end contributed to the Panthers' third goal where he misread the opposing forecheck, turned the puck over to the F2, and screened Dostal on the ensuing shot from Carter Verhaeghe.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey reviews the scheduled games and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will win in head-to-head matchups.

Left wing Brock McGinn had successful ACL reconstruction surgery last week, performed by Team Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Brian Schulz in Los Angeles. McGinn is expected to be out approximately 7-9 months.

The Florida Panthers spread the offensive wealth around en route to a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks in the first stop of their West Coast road trip at Honda Center on Tuesday. Improving to 28-17-3, Florida swept its home-and-home series with Anaheim.

The Ducks road trip was primed as a "make or break" endeavor and they were thoroughly outplayed at nearly every turn. They went 1-4-1, were shutout three times, outscored by a total of 24-8, and outshot 206-155.

The Ak Bars Kazan season runs through March 22, followed by playoffs. Should the Ducks sign Galimov, as reported, he's expected to join the team still in time for the 2025-26 NHL season. Anaheim is in the midst of another difficult campaign, sitting second-to-last in the Pacific Division on pace to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight year.

He has a seven-to-nine-month recovery window, ending his 2024-25 campaign and putting his availability for the start of the 2025-26 regular season in jeopardy.

The Oregon Ducks beat the rival Washington Huskies 82-71 on Tuesday night to improve to 16-3 on the season. Oregons' Nate Bittle, Supreme Cook, TJ Bamba, Jackson Shelstad, and Brandon Angel all scored in double figures.

A couple of years ago, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix went to New York as a finalist for the prestigious award. Last season, it was Ducks QB Dillon Gabriel who finished as a finalist in the Heisman voting. Could Oregon be sending another quarterback, Dante Moore, to the Big Apple in 2025 as a finalist for the Heisman?

Verhaeghe stole the puck from Anaheim defenseman Jacob Trouba behind the Ducks' goal before putting it into the upper right corner of the net to extend the Panthers' lead to 3-1 with 1:11 remaining in the first period. Florida has scored three times in the first period four times this season which trails only Tampa Bay and Ottawa (both five).