Thursday, March 5, 2026 – 7:00 PM ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
Florida Panthers (30-28-3, 63 points, 8th Atlantic, 15th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (31-21-8, 70 points, 4th Metro, 9th East)
Previously
Another ugly win, but hey points are points. The Jackets are now just 3 points back of Boston for the second wild card spot (and still have two games remaining against the Bruins, both here). The Penguins and Islanders are 5 points out of reach, but the Jackets have two games in hand on the Isles.
Notes
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs are in last place in their division. Ouch. Reaching three straight Cup Finals means playing a LOT of hockey over the previous 3+ seasons. That wear and tear has caught up to them, and Father Time as well for some players. Also, Sasha Barkov’s value has never been more clear than it is now, given his season-long absence.
Could Finland have defeated Canada in the Olympic semifinals if Barkov had been able to play? Makes you think.
It appears that Zach Werenski will miss a third straight game with illness. Not ideal! Dante Fabbro was also absent from morning skate.
Jet gets his second consecutive start.
Oh, and the trade deadline is just a tad over 24 hours from the publication of this article (3:00 PM ET tomorrow, to be exact).
Stats
| Florida | Columbus | |
| 2.98 (19) | GPG | 3.12 (17) |
| 3.34 (25) | GAPG | 3.17 (21) |
| 19.3 (21) | PP% | 19.6 (19) |
| 82.4 (7) | PK% | 77.2 (24) |
| 52.3 (6) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 50.8 (12) |
| 51.5 (8) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 50.3 (15) |
| 8.7 (25) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.3 (18) |
| 89.2 (29) | 5v5 Save % | 91.1 (12) |
| Sam Reinhart (28) | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko (22) |
| Sam Reinhart (29) | A Leader | Zach Werenski (45) |
| Sam Reinhart (57) | P Leader | Zach Werenski (65) |
| A.J. Greer | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier (62) |
| 14-14-0 | Home/Road | 16-8-5 |
| 2-8-0 | Last 10 | 8-1-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Mason Marchment | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Boone Jenner | Sean Monahan | Kent Johnson |
| Cole Sillinger | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Dmitri Voronkov | Isac Lundestrom | Miles Wood |
| Denton Mateychuk | Damon Severson |
| Egor Zamula | Ivan Provorov |
| Jake Christiansen | Erik Gudbranson |
| Jet Greaves |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Florida Panthers
| Sandis Vilmanis | Anton Lundell | Sam Reinhart |
| Carter Verhaeghe | Sam Bennett | Matthew Tkachuk |
| Eetu Luostarinen | Evan Rodrigues | Brad Marchand |
| Mackie Samoskevich | Tomas Nosek | A.J. Greer |
| Gustav Forsling | Aaron Ekblad |
| Niko Mikkola | Dmitry Kulikov |
| Tobias Bjornfot | Uvis Balinskis |
| Daniil Tarasov |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |