Panthers face a struggling Rangers team while trying to maintain their top-10 protected 2026 draft pick.
The Florida Panthers will wrap up a quick two-game road trip when they make a Sunday stop at The World’s Most Famous Arena.
A rough season that still has a light at the end of a tunnel is quickly wrapping up for the Cats, and that includes Sunday’s stop at Madison Square Garden when they’ll face the equally-disappointing New York Rangers.
Entering play Sunday, the Panthers and Rangers find themselves sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
New York holds the third-worst record in the NHL, tied with the Chicago Blackhawks with 67 points but holding more wins, while the Panthers have dropped to six-worst, tied in points with the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks.
This is all relevant for Florida because their 2026 first round pick at the NHL Draft is top-10 protected.
That means even though the Panthers sent that pick to Chicago in last season’s Trade Deadline deal for Seth Jones, Florida gets to keep the selection if it ends up in the top 10.
There are 10 games remaining on the Cats’ schedule, only four of which will be on home ice.
Unless Sam Bennett is ready to slot back into the lineup, Florida will likely send out the same lineup utilized Saturday on Long Island.
The only expected change is in goal, where Sergei Bobrovsky should be in net after Daniil Tarasov got the nod against the Islanders.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s party at the Garden:
Carter Verhaeghe – Eetu Luostarinen – Matthew Tkachuk
Mackie Samoskevich – Jesper Boqvist – Noah Gregor
Cole Reinhardt – Tomas Nosek – Vinnie Hinostroza
Nolan Foote – Luke Kunin – Jack Studnicka
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov – Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango – Mike Benning
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Photo caption: Apr 14, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) moves the puck as New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox (23) defends during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)