The struggling Florida Panthers (41-24-3) resume their road trip tonight against the Columbus Blues Jackets (31-28-8) at Nationwide Arena in the final regular season meeting between the two clubs. Florida will be shooting for the season-series sweep.
After enjoying a run of defensively dominant games, the Panthers have blown a couple of two-goal third period leads on this road trip, leading to a disappointing 1-3 record. Up by two, thanks to goals from Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov, the injury-riddled Cats folded like a cheap tent in Sunday night’s 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders in Elmont. Florida is still in first place in the Atlantic Division via tiebreaker.
The fading Blue Jackets have dropped four-straight and six of their last seven to fall out of a playoff spot. They played well in their last outing on Monday, but got goalied by Jake Allen, who made a season-high 45 saves, in a 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. This will be the last of a four-game homestand that has seen Columbus score just one goal. They were shut out by Vegas and the New York Rangers prior to the Devils game.
- WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Nationwide Arena – Columbus, OH
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, FDSNOH
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #CBJ, #FLAvsCBJ, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: The Cannon
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 3 (2-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 3, CBJ 0 (Recap) – 2/6/2025
- NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2025-26 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (28-15-2 .906 / 2.51 4SO) Columbus: Merzlikins (22-18-4 .896 / 3.04 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Columbus
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Colorado (41-25-3 85P) at OTTAWA (36-26-5 77P) 7 p.m.
- TORONTO (41-24-3 85P) at New York Rangers (33-30-6 72P) 7 p.m.
- MONTREAL (33-27-7 73P) at New York Islanders (31-28-8 70P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (39-23-5 83P) at Dallas (43-21-3 89P) 8 p.m.
- BUFFALO (27-33-6 60P) at Utah (30-27-11 71P) 9 p.m.
Idle: DET (70P), BOS (69P)