2025-26 Florida Panthers Regular Season Schedule Breakdown

The 2025-26 NHL regular season schedule was released to the masses on Wednesday afternoon. That means fans of the Florida Panthers were able to get their first look at who their club will play throughout the year. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions have an interesting slate for the 2025-26 campaign. Let's dive into this 82-game stretch and highlight the best matchups of the season.

Note: All listed times throughout this piece are Eastern Time. Television rights to single games may be changed to national coverage.

October

The season begins on October 7 at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. That is the night when the Panthers will raise their second Stanley Cup banner. This game will be one of two marquee events that take place during the opening month of the season.

In the middle of the month, the Panthers will end a five-game road trip in Boston. The first matchup between the two division rivals will take place on the 21st of the month. This won't be just any other road game, as it will likely be the night when Brad Marchand skates on the TD Garden ice as an opponent for the first time.

Throughout the first month, Florida will play their share of up-and-coming teams along with some bona fide playoff contenders. The Cats take on the Philadelphia Flyers twice. They also play the Ottawa Senators on the 11th, Detroit on the 15th, and Vegas at home on the 25th.

November

The season's second month will be a little chaotic and filled with headlines. To start, the Panthers will be one of the first Eastern Conference squads to go through the dreaded California road trip. That means Cats fans will try and be awake during late-night action in the first week of November. The trip ends in Sin City as the Panthers take on the Golden Knights for the final time.

The rest of the month will see the Panthers spend most of their time in their lovely confines of Amerant Bank Arena. Seven of the final eight contests are at home. That's a nice break for the team, especially after they get through that daunting change of a three-hour time difference when on the West Coast.

During that stretch of games, the Cats play a few playoff teams from the year before. Washington comes in on the 13th, while the rival Tampa Bay Lightning arrive on the 15th for the first of four meetings in the Sunshine State rivalry.

However, the big matchup will be the following Saturday, as Connor McDavid and the Oilers come into town for another Stanley Cup Final rematch. Not to mention, the Dallas Stars come in to open the month as well. One last note is that the contest against the Flyers on the 26th opens up a six-game homestand.

December

Ho-Ho-Ho! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Florida begins the month of the holidays in the middle of their six-game homestand. December will be Florida's toughest month up to this point. Of the 15 games the Panthers play, 11 will be against teams that made the playoffs last season. December begins with a date against Toronto.

Starting on December 10, the Panthers will hit the plane again for another road trip of four games. On the trip, Florida makes stops in Colorado, Dallas, and Tampa. Similar to November, the Cats will finish the month primarily at home. Six of their final seven games to close out December will be played at Amerant Bank Arena.

In that stretch, three of those games will be played after Christmas. Tampa Bay, Washington, and Montreal come to town, in that order. It's a packed slate that should pave the way for great games and moments for Panthers fans. The Toronto meeting, the two games with the Bolts, and two dates with Carolina are the highlights. Hopefully, the partisans can enjoy some great wins before 2026 arrives.

January

When the new year of 2026 arrives, the Panthers will begin their toughest test of the season in exciting fashion. For the first time, the NHL Winter Classic will feature the Panthers. Even better and more significant, they will host the game at loanDepot Park in Miami, home of MLB's Miami Marlins. The historical significance runs deeper than that.

loanDepot Park is the site where the old Miami Orange Bowl used to stand proudly. Longtime South Florida sports fans understand that this holds special meaning. The Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes football teams dominated for years at the Orange Bowl, proving the site to be one of the best home-field advantages in sports. This is where South Florida sports began its rise.

The Winter Classic on January 2 will be the first time the Cats play in Miami in over two decades. The Panthers last played in the city at the old Miami Arena in Overtown in 1998. The franchise spent its first five seasons at the now deconstructed facility.

After the Winter Classic against the Rangers, Florida will have their longest the year, away from home. The Panthers play just four more home games across the entire month. In January's first two weeks, the Cats will play six away games. Thankfully, these are against Eastern Conference foes. In that set, Florida makes their first return to Toronto since last year's second-round series.

The team also takes on Montreal as well as Carolina at the end of the trip. They will also play the Jets in Winnipeg on the 22nd, Minnesota on the 24th, and St. Louis on the 29th. Colorado makes a trip to Florida on the 4th and Winnipeg does the same on the 31st.

February

In February, the Panthers will only play five games, all in the state of Florida, just one on the road in Tampa. Between the 6th and the 25th, NHL action will be paused for 20 consecutive days. This is due to the 2026 Winter Olympics, which take place in Italy. As of now, five players from the Panthers have been selected for the Preliminary National Team rosters.

Aleksander Barkov(Finland), Matthew Tkachuk(USA), Sam Reinhart(Canada), Nico Sturm(Germany), and Uvis Balinskis(Latvia) were the players selected during the early roster-building process. As far as the schedule is concerned, each of the games that Florida plays is against Atlantic Division foes.

There are two back-to-backs here. The first is early in the month, when Boston comes to town before the Panthers play the Lightning the next night in Tampa Bay. At the end of the month, Toronto and Buffalo come into Sunrise. Now, although Buffalo and Boston aren't expected to do much in 2025-26, these games could be important for divisional playoff seeding.

That'll especially be the case when the Panthers play the Maple Leafs and Lightning. They both are expected to be Florida's top competition for the Atlantic Division championship again. These games might be overlooked because of the Olympics, but their potential importance can't be understated. We'll see where these teams are at when this point of the season comes.

March

March sees Florida have two more road trips of four games. The first is at the start of the month. The Islanders' game at UBS Arena is a Sunday afternoon matinee. Also, on that road trip are matchups against the Devils, Blue Jackets, and Red Wings. Those last two are on a back-to-back.

The second four-game road trip takes place in the third week of March. This set is played against teams in the Pacific Northwest. The opponents in that set are Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. Once again, the trip ends in a back-to-back when the club faces the two franchises in Alberta.

At the end of the month, the Cats play the Islanders again at UBS Arena. Then, they head over to play the New York Rangers in their only appearance at Madison Square Garden during the 2025-26 regular season. That is another Sunday afternoon game in the Big Apple. Florida only plays five home games during the month.

April

The home stretch of the regular season. April is usually the time when many regulars will take some games off to rest for the playoffs, a place that the Florida Panthers will be in once again, next summer. The last eight games of the 2025-26 season will be played in April. The most important aspect to note about this month is another road trip.

Yes, the NHL just loved to give long road trips to the Panthers this year. Fortunately, these will all be games against opponents from the Eastern Conference. The final trip of the season will be five games long. Two of those are against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, on a back-to-back. The Panthers will round out the trip with games against Atlantic Division foes Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.

The three home games the Panthers have in April are against the Bruins, Rangers, and Red Wings. All of these games will have early puck-drop times. No game begins later than 7 o'clock, which is expected for the last few games of a season. The back-to-back with the Pens is an interesting quirk on the slate.