The Florida Panthers (26-20-3) continue its three-game road trip when they take on another team they haven’t faced since 2024, the Minnesota Wild (29-14-9) tonight at Grand Casino Arena.
Florida started the trek north with a 2-1 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. Matthew Tkachuk set up Sam Bennett’s seond period one-timer to collect his first point of the season. Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves to get the Cats to the shootout, where Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart made quick work of Connor Hellebuyck, keeping the Panthers within five points of a playoff spot.
The Wild also went on Thursday, ekeing out a 4-3 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings on Kirill Kaprizov’s second goal of the night. Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 of 33 shots and Mats Zuccarello also scored twice for Minnesota, who is currently in second place in the Central Division.
- WHEN: 9 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Grand Casino Arena – Saint Paul, MN
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, FDSNNO, FDSNWI
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #MNWild, #FLAvsMIN, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Hockey Wilderness
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 6, MIN 1 (Recap) – 12/18/2024
- NEXT MEETING: March 26, 2026
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (19-14-1 .875 / 3.09 3SO) Minnesota: Gustavsson (17-9-5 .910 / 2.57 3SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Minnesota
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- BUFFALO (28-17-5 61P) at New York Islanders (27-18-5 59P) 1 p.m.
- MONTREAL (28-16-7 63P) at BOSTON (29-20-2 60P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- Carolina (31-15-5 67P) at OTTAWA (23-20-7 53P) 7 p.m.
- TAMPA BAY (32-13-4 68P) at Columbus (23-20-7 53P) 7 p.m.
- DETROIT (31-16-5 67P) at Winnipeg (20-23-7 47P) 7 p.m.
Idle: TOR (57P)