FORT LAUDERDALE – Back on the road.
After returning to Sunrise for their home opener against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, the Florida Panthers will be heading north for a back-to-back.
Following their first regulation loss of the season, falling 4-1 to the Wild, the Panthers sit at 2-1-2 through five games.
“We know with our game, it's going to come,” Gustav Forsling said following the team’s practice at Baptist Health IcePlex on Sunday. “It's just a matter of time here. We’ve just got to stick with our game.”
A chance to get to their game, the Panthers will start their road trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday at KeyBank Center at 1 p.m. ET, before closing out the back-to-back against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Carrying over the road success they have shown over the past few seasons, the Panthers earned points in all four road games to start the season, going 2-0-2.
LUOSTARINEN GOOD TO GO
The Panthers can exhale on Sunday following Eetu Luostarinen’s departure from Saturday’s game after being hit with a shot.
Leaving in the third period, the Finnish forward did not return to the game.
A near scare, Luostarinen was on the ice skating in Sunday’s practice.
“He gets hit with a lot of pucks because he's not afraid to go to the net,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Luostarinen. “He's blocked a lot of shots, broke his leg once doing it, so we kind of hold our breath. Then he's walking around the next day and everything's good, so that's just his life. He's going to be a penalty-killing shot blocker, and he's a net front guy. He's going to take some pucks.”
Averaging 15:29 time on ice this season so far, Luostarinen has registered two goals, eight shots, and nine hits.
The 28-year-old also leads all Panthers forwards with five blocked shots.
FIVE-ON-FIVE PLAY
Not many teams in the league have been as good as the Panthers at even strength to start the 2026-27 campaign.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, while five-on-five, the Panthers own a 56.94% offensive advantage (sixth in the NHL) and 57.14% high-danger chance advantage (seventh in the NHL).
“All the games have been tight games, and I feel like our five-on-five game has been really
solid,” said Forsling. ”We don't give up much.”
While five-on-five, the Panthers also own a 86-66 shot advantage.
PRACTICE LINES
Forwards
Brady Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Reinhart – Sam Lafferty
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sandis Vilmanis
Boko Imama – Lars Eller – Garnet Hathaway
Defense
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Radko Gudas
Uvis Balinskis
Goaltenders
Jacob Markstrom
Akira Schmid
