The Florida Panthers (22-16-3) open the second half of the schedule, and a key six-game road trip, when they face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs (19-15-7) tonight in the center of the hockey universe.
Florida bounced back from a borderline embarrassing performance at the Winter Classic by joining the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders as they only teams to hand the Colorado Avalanche a regulation loss this season. Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad scored unassisted goals and Daniil Tarasov was named the game’s First Star for his stellar 27-save performance in the Panthers’ 2-1 victory over the league’s best team on Saturday night. Bennett’s marker extended his point streak to a career-long nine games.
The Maple Leafs come into tonight’s tilt on six-game (4-0-2) point streak that has the team back in the wild card mix. Toronto earned a point in its last outing by going to overtime with the Islanders before losing 4-3 when rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer scored late in the extra session. Auston Matthews notched a pair and Nicolas Robertson got the other goal for the Buds. Matthews, the first Leaf to hit 20 this season, has five goals in the last two games.
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
- ON THE TUBE: TNT, HBO Max
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #LeafsForever, #FLAvsTOR, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: PPP Leafs
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 4 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: TOR 4, @FLA 1 (Recap) – 12/2/2025
- NEXT MEETING: February 26, 2026
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (17-10-1 .885 / 2.84 3SO) Toronto: Woll (8-4-2 .912 / 2.82 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Toronto
Tuesday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Vancouver (16-20-5 37P) at BUFFALO (21-15-4 46P) 7 p.m.
- Colorado (31-37 69P) at TAMPA BAY (25-13-3 53P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (22-18-2 46P) at Seattle (19-14-7 45P) 10 p.m.
Idle: DET (54P), MON (52P) OTT (45P)