The Florida Panthers (35-33-3) will open a two-game road trip and look to complete the seasom-series sweep when they pay a visit to the New York Islanders (34-21-5) in matinee action from UBS Arena.
Florida almost a stole a point from the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, but lost 3-2 when Joel Eriksson Ek potted a rebound with five seconds left in regulation. Daniil Tarasov was other-worldly, making 47 saves to keep his vastly outplayed team in it. Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad scored third period goals as the Cats overcame a two-goal deficit before falling in the final seconds.
The Islanders are coming into today’s action off a hard-fought 2-1 home ice victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday. Bo Horvat and Calum Ritchie notched the goals and rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer collected two helpers. Ilya Sorokin (26 saves) was closing in on his eighth shutout of this season when Matt Duchene scored with 2:59 left in the tilt.
- WHEN: 1 p.m. ET
- WHERE: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, MSGSN
- ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Isles, #FLAvsNYI, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Lighthouse Hockey
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 3 (1-1)
- LAST MEETING: @NYI 5, FLA 4 (Recap) – 3/1/2026
- NEXT MEETING: That’s all, folks!
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Tarasov (9-13-2 .899 / 3.01 0SO) New York: Sorokin (27-18-2 .914 / 2.48 7SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / New York
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- OTTAWA (38-24-10 86P) at TAMPA BAY (44-21-6 96P) 1 p.m.
- Minnesota (41-20-12 94P) at BOSTON (40-24-8 88P) 5 p.m. (NHL Network)
- Seattle (32-29-10 74P) at BUFFALO (44-21-8 96P) 5:30 p.m.
- TORONTO (31-29-13 75P) at St. Louis (30-30-11 71P) 7 p.m.
- MONTREAL (40-21-10 90P) at Nashville (34-29-9 77P) 7 p.m.
- Philadelphia (35-24-12 82P) at DETROIT (39-25-8 86P) 8 p.m. (ABC)