WINNIPEG – The Florida Panthers will close out their road trip and kick off a home-and-home series when they face-off against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.
Sitting at 6-4-2, the Panthers snapped out of a two-game skid with a 3-2 win in Chicago on Sunday thanks to a late go-ahead goal from Lars Eller with just 2:23 remaining in regulation.
Preparing for their 13th game this season, this will already be Florida’s 10th on the road.
“We’ve got a quarter of our road schedule done and it's not the end of October, so that's good,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “There's got to be a payoff there somewhere. Feels like we've been after it for a while. I don't want to say survival mode, but that's not far off with (Aleksander) Barkov out. That that's a big piece on the road.”
After winning three of their first four games to start this season, the Jets have struggled to keep pace and enter tonight’s matchup looking to snap out of a five-game losing streak.
Owning a 4-4-3 record, each loss during their streak has been by just one goal.
“It's an important game,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “There's no doubt about it. Obviously, to get back to .500 on the trip would be huge. A fast start is really important. Teams that score the first goal in this league are obviously a little bit more successful.”
For more information on tonight’s game, continue below.
EYE ON THE CATS
VIEW TO KILL: After 7-for-7 performance against the Blackhawks on Sunday, the Panthers are now sitting at 25-for-26 on the penalty kill since Oct. 13. In that span, Seth Jones and Anton Lundell are tied for first on the team with 21:38 of shorthanded ice time. Overall, the Panthers enter tonight’s matchup ranking seventh in the NHL on the penalty kill at 84.9%.
TKA-POINTS: Matthew Tkachuk is always a safe bet to crack the scoresheet. In 12 games this season, the star winger has been held without a point just twice. An elite playmaker, he currently leads the Panthers in both assists (12) and points (16). Doing a lot of that damage with the extra attacker, he sits third in the NHL with nine points (1G, 8A) on the power play.
LIFE ON THE ROAD: The Panthers will play their 10th road game of the season tonight, which will place them in a tie with the Minnesota Wild for most in the NHL. This marks the first time in franchise history the Panthers have played 10 road games through their first 13 games of a season. Brady Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart are tied for first on the Panthers in goals on the road with four, while Matthew Tkachuk ranks first in points with 11 (3G, 8A).
FIVE KEY STATS
- The Panthers rank fifth in fewest shots allowed per game in the NHL with 24.1.
- Seth Jones is tied for fourth among NHL defensemen with 11 assists.
- Matthew Tkachuk has 25 points (10G, 25A) in 29 career games vs. Winnipeg.
- Florida leads 158-92 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Brady Tkachuk is deployed.
- Garnet Hathaway has recorded a team-high 53 hits.
THEY SAID IT
“Him and Mark Scheifele are always dynamic players. They find each other all over the ice, and they're looking for each other specifically all over the ice. It's important that we home in on them, for sure.” – Aaron Ekblad on defending against Kyle Connor
“What we work on is when we get down, and Lord knows we like to start games like that, do not change your game. And then we’ve had some success being consistent with our game and finding a way back in.” – Paul Maurice on the ability to come back in games
“We all know what the key is. Our defensive play is always a dictator to how we play offensively. We’ve got to start the game on the right note, you know, playing hard defensively and generate our offense from that.” – Dmitry Kulikov on the key to tonight’s game
OPPOSITION OUTLOOK
- The Jets traded three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck last week to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for forwards Dawson Mercer and Nick Bjugstad, goaltender Nico Daws, the rights to unsigned 2026 first-round pick Alexander Command, a second-round draft pick and a seventh-round draft pick. With Hellebuyck gone, the Jets are currently carrying three goaltenders on their roster in Stuart Skinner, Clay Stevenson and Daws.
- Dawson Mercer will celebrate his 25th birthday by taking the ice at Canada Life Centre for the first time as a member of the Jets tonight. In 10 games with the Devils this season prior to being traded, he’d dished out four assists. If he manages to light the lamp against the Panthers, he’ll become the 26th player in Winnipeg’s history to score a birthday goal.
- Kyle Connor leads the Jets in goals (9) and points (12). Of his goals, four have come on the power play, which ranks tied for third in the NHL. In his career against Florida, the speedy winger is better than a point-per-game player, registering 16 points (8G, 8A) in 15 games.
- The Jets are currently without their No. 1 defenseman as Josh Morrissey has been out with an upper-body injury since Oct. 7. Finishing in the top 10 in voting for the Norris Trophy in three of the past five seasons, he logged 55 points (14G, 41A) in 77 games in 2025-26.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Brady Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Reinhart – Sandis Vilmanis
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Lars Eller
Boko Imama – Cole Schwindt – Garnet Hathaway
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Radko Gudas
Goaltenders
Akira Schmid
Cooper Black
TEAM STATS
