The Florida Panthers will wrap up this week’s two-game homestand on Thursday night in Sunrise.
After picking up a 5-4 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, Florida will play home game No. 37 of 41 when they host the Minnesota Wild at Amerant Bank Arena.
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With the season winding down, the Panthers and their fans are keeping a close eye on the standings.
Unfortunately, it’s not the same kind of experience that Cats fans have been able to enjoy over the past several years.
This season the Panthers will see their franchise-record seven-year playoff streak come to an end, but with Florida’s 2026 first-round pick being top-10 protected, the standings-watch is still happening.
Entering play Thursday, the Panthers remain among the NHL’s bottom-10 teams.
Florida holds a 35-32-3 record, good for 73 points, which slots them as the ninth-lowest point total in the NHL. And for what it’s worth, of the eight teams below Florida, only one of them (the New York Rangers) are in the Eastern Conference.
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When they hit the ice on Thursday, the Panthers will be missing several regulars from their lineup.
In addition to the long-injured Sasha Barkov, Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt, Florida will be without Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola, Uvis Balinskis, and A.J. Greer, who will be serving the second game of a three-game suspension.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is comfortably holding on to third place in the Central Division. They have a 12-point edge over fourth-place Utah, so barring anything crazy, the Wild will be a divisional playoff team.
Lately it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for the Wild, though.
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Over the past two weeks, Minnesota has lost five of seven, with four of those five defeats coming against teams that aren’t in a playoff position.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Thursday’s meeting with Minnesota:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist
Cole Reinhardt – Tomas Nosek – Vinnie Hinostroza
Nolan Foote – Luke Kunin – Noah Gregor
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov – Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango – Mike Benning
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Photo caption: Jan 24, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) is met by Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) at the blue line in the third period at Grand Casino Arena. (Matt Blewett-Imagn Images)
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