After finishing a six-game road trip with a 3-3 record, the Florida Panthers (25-19-3) are back in Sunrise for a home one-off against the much-improved San Jose Sharks (24-20-3) at Amerant Bank Arena. Matthew Tkachuk will make his season debut for the Panthers.
What a difference a day makes. Florida bounced back from Friday’s ugly 9-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes by completing a season-series sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 5-3 victory on Saturday. Uvis Balinskis notched his first career game-winning goal and Sam Bennett (1G/2A), A.J. Greer (1G/1A), Anton Lundell (1G/1A), Carter Verhaeghe (1G/1A) and Sam Reinhart (2A) delivered multi-point performances at Capital One Arena. Daniil Tarasov stopped 22 shots to even his record at 6-6-2. The Panthers enter tonight’s tilt four points out of a playoff spot.
The ascending Sharks will be playing the third contest of a four-game trip east. They were doubled-up 4-2 by the Detroit Red Wings on Friday in their last outing. Will Smith and Collin Graf scored the goals and Yaroslav Askarov made 21 saves in the defeat. Second-year sensation Macklin Celebrini is third in the NHL in scoring with 72 points. San Jose is holding down the final playoff spot in Western Conference.
- WHEN: 6 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, NBCSCA
- ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #TheFutureIsTeal, #SJSvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: San Jose Hockey Now
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: @SJS 3, FLA 1 (Recap) – 11/8/2025
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup or 2026-27 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (19-13-1 .875 / 3.09 3SO) San Jose: Nedeljkovic (8-8-2 .891 / 3.06 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / San Jose
Monday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Carolina 2, BUFFALO 1
- Minnesota (27-13-9 63P) at TORONTO (24-16-8 52P) 7:30 p.m.
Idle: TBL (64P), DET (64P), MON (61P). BOS (58P), OTT (51P)