Panthers begin first homestand of 2026 against visiting Jets

Something amazing is happening over the next several days in Sunrise.

When the Florida Panthers host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon, it will be the start of something that hasn’t been seen in South Florida for quite some time.

For the first time in a month, the Panthers will be hosting an actual, real life homestand.

Even better, they won’t have to play any back-to-back sets! It’s truly like Christmas in July for the Panthers.

All joking aside, it will be nice for the Cats to have some stability in their lives for a couple weeks.

The only road game the Panthers will play between now and March is on Feb. 5 against Tampa, which also happens to be the last game Florida will play for the NHL breaks for the Winter Olympics.

Now the important next step for Florida will be to resume winning games on home ice.

Saturday’s game on Winnipeg, which comes on Jan. 31, will be the fifth home game of the month for the Panthers, including the Winter Classic that was planed at loanDepot park in Miami.

Florida has won just once on home ice this month, all the way back on Jan. 4 against Colorado.

Getting back on the right track and picking up some crucial points in the standings will go a long way toward Florida climbing back into striking distance of a playoff race.

Entering play Saturday, Florida’s 59 points is eight points back of Boston and Montreal, who are tied for the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference, and Buffalo, who hold the third spot in the Atlantic Division.

Florida has two games in hand on the Bruins, one on Montreal and the same amount of games played as Buffalo.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s matchup against Winnipeg:

Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart

Sandis Vilmanis– Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Mackie Samoskevich

A.J. Greer – Cole Schwindt – Luke Kunin

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Uvis Balinskis

Tobias Bjornfot – Jeff Petry

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Photo caption: Jan 22, 2026; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) shoots wide of Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) in overtime at Canada Life Centre. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)

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