Graphic desing: Francisco Oporta & Todd Little

The Florida Panthers (25-20-3) will open a three-game road trip when they take on the Winnipeg Jets (20-22-6) tonight in frigid Manitoba in the first of two closely scheduled meetings between the two teams.

The long-awaited return of Matthew Tkachuk to the lineup was dampened by a 4-1 home ice loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday. San Jose potted three rebounds in a 5:22 of span of the second period to take control of the tilt and all the Panthers could muster in response offensively was a goal from Eetu Luostarinen early in the final frame. Aaron Ekblad drew the only helper on Luostarinen’s marker to pick up his 400th NHL point. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 of 27 shots as the Cats season continued to go in fits and starts.

The Jets opened a three-game homestand with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Captain Mark Scheifele scored a pair of goals and added an assist and defenseman Josh Morrissey lit the lamp and had two helpers in the win that was backstopped by a 22-save performance from Eric Comrie. Winnipeg comes into the game 14th in the Western Conference.

WHEN: 8 p.m. ET

WHERE: Canada Life Centre – Winnipeg, MB

ON THE TUBE: Scripps

ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)

SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoJetsGo, #FLAvsWPG, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook

ENEMY INTEL: Arctic Ice Hockey

FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2

LAST MEETING: @WPG 6, FLA 3 (Recap) – 11/19/2024

NEXT MEETING: January 31, 2026

PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (19-14-1 .875 / 3.09 3SO) Winnipeg: Hellebuyck (12-13-5 .902 / 2.71 0SO)

PLAYER STATS: Florida / Winnipeg

Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

Vegas (24-12-12 P) at BOSTON (28-20-2 58P) 7 p.m.

BUFFALO (27-17-5 59P) at MONTREAL (28-15-7 63P) 7 p.m.

OTTAWA (23-19-7 53P) at Nashville (23-22-4 50P) 8 p.m.

DETROIT (31-16-4 66P) at Minnesota (28-14-9 65P) 6:30 p.m.

Idle: TBL (66P), TOR (56P)