James Guillory-Imagn Images
Oct 13, 2026 2:17 PM
Florida’s bench boss clarifies the status of his starting goaltender following a sudden exit in Buffalo while discussing the point output from the team’s physical new forward.
The Florida Panthers suffered a second consecutive loss on Monday afternoon, dropping a matinee in Buffalo 5-3 to the host Sabres.
Panthers starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom played a strong first period, stopping nine of 11 shots, including all four high danger shots sent his way by Buffalo.
Markstrom did not return for the second period, though, with backup netminder Akira Schmid finishing off the game for Florida.
Afterward, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice provided an update on Markstrom, indicating that the injury was nothing sinister.
“It just tightened up so we pulled him,” said Maurice. “We’ll see. There’s no injury there we don’t think that we can’t deal with, just standard stuff.”
Through five starts, Markstrom has been solid for the Panthers between the pipes.
He’s stopped 85 of the 94 shots he’s faced, good for a .904 save percentage to go with a tidy 2.03 goals against average.
When facing high danger chances, that’s where Markstrom has really shined for Florida.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Markstrom has saved 23 of the 25 high danger shots he’s faced, which would rank him third among goaltenders who have seen at least 20 high danger shots this season.
Hopefully for the Panthers, whatever kept Markstrom from finishing Monday’s game wont be anything that lingers.
There was also something else that happened Monday in Buffalo that is worth a mention.
New Panthers forward Brady Tkachuk picked up his first point with the team, picking up an assist on Sam Reinhart’s first power play goal of the game.
It was no ordinary assist, either, as Tkachuk sent a perfect pass that was also between-the-legs and backwards-facing to Reinhart, who then had a yawning cage to deposit the puck into.
We’ll see if this leads to the younger Tkachuk starting to pile up some points, as his brother Matthew now has a five-game point streak going in which he’s scored three goals.
So far through six games, Brady Tkachuk has the one point, 15 shots on 31 attempts, 26 hits, nine penalty minutes and a minus-5 on-ice rating while winning 61.3% of the 31 faceoffs he’s taken.
“I’ve been fine with his game,” said Maurice. “He’s netfront and battling all night, one went for him. I thought he was close to that happening five or six times since he’s been here, so I haven’t spent any time worrying about his points. He’s fine.”
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Photo caption: Sep 29, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers goaltenderJacobMarkstrom(25) leaves the ice after warm ups before a game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)
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