Graphics: Francisco Oporta (assisted by Todd Little)

The Florida Panthers (28-23-3) will play the first of its three remaining games before the break for the 2026 Olympics when they host Buffalo Sabres (31-18-5) in a key meeting between the two Atlantic Division rivals tonight in surprisingly chilly Sunrise.

Despite playing pretty well, Florida fell 2-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. They have lost three-straight overall (all by one goal) and three in a row on home ice. Eetu Luostarien opened the scoring, from Evan Rodrigues and Gustav Forsling, in the first period, but the Cats failed to add on, and the Jets landed the win thanks to third period goals from Cole Perfetti and Mark Scheifele. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 of 21 and fell to 2-4 in his last six starts. The Panthers are eight points behind Buffalo for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Sabres also had a negative result on Saturday as they had a five-game winning streak halted in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center. Owen Power and Noah Ostlund scored the goals and former Panther Alex Lyon finished with 27 saves. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo in goals (28) and scoring with 56 points.

WHEN: 7 p.m. ET

WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL

ON THE TUBE: Scripps, MSG-B

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

SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #SabreHood, #FLAvsBUF, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook

ENEMY INTEL: Die By The Blade

FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 4 (1-1)

LAST MEETING: FLA 4, @BUF 3 (Recap) – 1/12/2026

NEXT MEETING: February 27, 2026

PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (20-16-1 .875 / 3.05 3SO) Buffalo: Lyon (13-7-3 .913 / 2.64 2SO)

PLAYER STATS: Florida / Buffalo

Monday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

OTTAWA (26-21-7 59P) at Pittsburgh (28-14-11 67P) 7 p.m.

MONTREAL (31-17-7 69P) at Minnesota (32-14-10 74P) 8 p.m.

DETROIT (32-18-6 70P) at Colorado (36-8-9 81P) 9 p.m.

TORONTO (25-21-9 59P) at Calgary (22-26-6 50P) 10 p.m.

Idle: TBL (74P), BOS (68P)