2025-26 Regular Season, Game 36 Preview: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers

Last Game: The Carolina Hurricanes failed to protect another lead on Saturday night, dropping their second straight game. Everything started smoothly for the group. Jordan Staal intercepted a pass and set up Eric Robinson for a one-timer to open the scoring early. Then, after Robinson drew a penalty, Jackson Blake tipped Nikolaj Ehlers' pass through Andrei Vasilevskiy to double the lead just four minutes in. Late in the period, the Canes added another on the power play. Bradly Nadeau was in the perfect spot to take advantage of a loose puck off a defender's skate, snapping it home to extend the lead to three. Tampa came out of the intermission on fire, getting goals from Gage Goncalves and Brayden Point to shrink the lead to one. Andrei Svechnikov turned a puck over, allowing Jack Finley to get in on a 2-on-0 as the Canes changed. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped his first shot, but Finley was there to put the rebound home. Svechnikog got it back early in the third by scoring a beautiful goal, though the Canes' lead only lasted 24 seconds after Ryan McDonagh slid one around a poke check. Jake Guentzel burned his old team three minutes later by poking one through Kochetkov's pads, and he added the empty-net goal to seal it as the Lightning won, 6-4.

Injury Report
Seth Jarvis: He was placed on IR before Saturday's game and is out "week-to-week", so there's no immediate timetable for his return.
Jaccob Slavin: It turns out that he was really hurt in the Florida game, and he'll also be out "week-to-week" with a new injury.
Jordan Martinook: He'll miss his third straight game, but I'm a little more confident that we'll see him sooner than the other two.
William Carrier: After missing Monday's practice, it's unclear what his status is and whether what he's dealing with is an injury or illness-related.

The Opponent: Florida Panthers (19-14-2, 40 Points; 5th in the Atlantic Division)
Last Meeting: The Hurricanes were in Sunrise last Friday night to kick off the Florida back-to-back. Despite a great start for the Panthers, the Canes struck first after Jordan Staal potted a rebound at the top of the crease. The lead remained 1-0 until Sebastian Aho scored on a breakaway in the third period. Aho added another, this time depositing a rebound on the power play to extend the lead to three. This is when things went off the rails. Along with a ton of dirty play, Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Sam Reinhart scored over the final 10 minutes, with the latter pair coming with the extra attacker. With overtime confirmed, the Canes lost a star immediately. Seth Jarvis was tripped by Evan Rodrigues, sending him into the post. He was knocked out of the game, and a penalty wasn't called. Neither team scored in overtime, and the Panthers won it in the shootout. Brandon Bussi made 38 stops in his first loss since mid-October, and Aho, Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov all had two points each. 

Since We Last Met: There hasn't been a ton happening for the Panthers since Friday night. Like the Canes, they lost on Saturday, dropping a 6-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues. No one on the team, namely Marchand and AJ Greer, faced any discipline from the league for either of their plays against the Canes. Mackie Samoskevich, who was apparently injured against the Canes, didn't dress for their game on Saturday, and his status isn't clear for tonight. Sergei Bobrovsky will be in the net after Daniil Tarasov suffered the loss to the Blues. I'm not really wasting my breath since they met four nights ago.

Stories to Watch
1. How spiteful will this game become early?
The Hurricanes have all the reasons in the world to be mad about what happened in Sunrise on Friday night. They should be mad at themselves for how they played with the lead, and how much Florida succeeded in getting under their skin. They should be mad at Florida for all of the cheap shots they took on the road to their comeback and how they injured two of their stars. They should be mad at the league for allowing the Panthers to continually get away with everything they do. None of it matters if they don't show up for tonight's game. I think this has the potential to get ugly in an instant, and it'll be up to the officials to make sure it doesn't get too out of hand. Honestly, that's the only thing that matters on Friday.

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