Thursday, March 12, 2026 – 7:00 PM ET
Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, Florida
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
Columbus Blue Jackets (33-21-10, 76 points, 4th Metro, 9th East)
at
Florida Panthers (32-29-3, 67 points, 7th Atlantic, 13th East)
Previously
In part one of the Florida trip, the Jackets went into Tampa and put together a strong final 40 minutes…arguably the best they’ve played all season.
Can they carry that over against a Panthers team that is taking on water?
Notes
The Panthers couldn’t do much buying or selling at the deadline, so now they’re just running out the string and hoping they finish in the bottom 10 of the league so they can keep a first round pick this year. Run it back next year with a rested and recovered core.
To that end, Brad Marchand is out for a few weeks with injury, and Sam Reinhart missed Tuesday’s game.
On the Jackets’ side, Tuesday’s game saw some shuffling to the lines and pairs. It seemed to work, so will Rick Bowness stick with that? Or is this when Dmitri Voronkov makes his triumphant return? We want/need him to respond to his scratches as Kent Johnson has.
Standings update:
Metro 2: Pittsburgh (79 points in 64 games)
Metro 3: NY Islanders (79 points in 65 games)
Wild Card 1: Detroit (79 points in 65 games)
Wild Card 2: Boston (78 points in 64 games)
Columbus: 76 points in 64 games
Tonight, the Bruins host the Sharks, the Red Wings visit the Lightning, and the Penguins visit the Golden Knights.
Stats
| Florida | Columbus | |
| 2.98 (19) | GPG | 3.19 (14) |
| 3.31 (25) | GAPG | 3.19 (23) |
| 19.4 (19) | PP% | 20.5 (17) |
| 82.2 (6) | PK% | 78.0 (23) |
| 52.3 (6) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 50.8 (11) |
| 51.4 (9) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 50.3 (14) |
| 8.7 (25) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.5 (14) |
| 89.3 (29) | 5v5 Save % | 90.8 (14) |
| Sam Reinhart (28) | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko (24) |
| Sam Reinhart (31) | A Leader | Zach Werenski (48) |
| Sam Reinhart (59) | P Leader | Zach Werenski (68) |
| A.J. Greer (92) | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier (89) |
| 17-14-3 | Home/Road | 16-13-3 |
| 4-6-0 | Last 10 | 6-1-3 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Cole Sillinger | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Kent Johnson | Sean Monahan | Conor Garland |
| Mason Marchment | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Isac Lundestrom | Boone Jenner | Danton Heinen |
| Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
| Ivan Provorov | Denton Mateychuk |
| Jake Christiansen | Damon Severson |
| Jet Greaves |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Florida Panthers
| Eetu Luostarinen | Anton Lundell | Evan Rodrigues |
| Carter Verhaeghe | Sam Bennett | Matthew Tkachuk |
| Mackie Samoskevich | Tomas Nosek | A.J. Greer |
| Jesper Boqvist | Luke Kunin | Vinnie Hinostroza |
| Gustav Forsling | Aaron Ekblad |
| Niko Mikkola | Uvis Balinskis |
| Donovan Sebrango | Dmitry Kulikov |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Daniil Tarasov |