Panthers battle Hurricanes, seeking momentum before the holiday break amid key injuries for both teams.
The Florida Panthers will play their final road game of 2025 on Tuesday night in Raleigh.
Florida has won seven of their past nine but are fresh off a tough 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night in Sunrise.
Now the Cats will look to begin a new winning streak when they face the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday at Lenovo Center.
While the Panthers have been dealing with an extended stay by the injury bug for the entirety of the season, Carolina is currently feeling the sting as well.
Key Hurricanes players Jaccob Slavin and Seth Jarvis are both going to miss some extended time after suffering injuries during last week’s matchup with the Panthers.
Slavin already missed 29 games this season and only had recently returned to the Canes lineup. On Monday, he was placed on IR after being labeled week-to-week by Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Jarvis was placed on IR over the weekend after colliding with the net on a play he was tripped by Florida’s Evan Rodrigues.
Carolina is also going to be without forward Jordan Martinook on Monday. He considered day-to-day but after missing Monday’s practice, Brind’Amour confirmed he would not play on Tuesday.
Florida will be hoping to get forward Mackie Samoskevich back into the lineup in Raleigh after the youngster missed the Cats’ loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday with a lower-body injury.
Afterwards, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said Samoskevich was considered day-to-day, so we’ll see if he’s able to get back on the ice or if Florida goes the cautious route and holds him out until after the holiday break to give him the extra time off to heal.
If Samoskevich can’t go, look for Jack Studnicka to slot back into Florida’s lineup.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Tuesday’s tilt with the Hurricanes:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Noah Gregor – Luke Kunin
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Dec 19, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry (2) and Carolina Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) fight for position in front of the net during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rhona Wise-Imagn Images)