With the regular season only a handful of days away, the Florida Panthers gave an indication of how some of the roster could shake out in the early parts of the season. Florida will be without star forwards Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk as both recover from respective injuries that required surgery. Tkachuk is expected back sometime after December while it’s still up in the air whether Barkov could return at any point during the regular season or playoffs. Coming off three straight Stanley Cup Final runs and back-to-back championships, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice has done well to limit the exposure of his NHL regulars while maintaining a hard-working, challenging training camp experience. That’s why it wasn’t until Thursday night, when the Panthers played their second-to-last exhibition game in Tampa, that the majority of Florida’s expected Opening Night roster saw their first action of the preseason. Considering that the 18 forwards and defensemen who played on Thursday could very well be the same group that takes the ice Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, it makes sense to take note of how the lines and defensive pairings shook out, as well as the special teams units. Below you’ll find how everything looked. FORWARD LINES AND DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Sam Reinhart Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand Jesper Boqvist – Evan Rodrigues – Mackie Samoskevich A.J. Greer – Luke Kunin – Jonah Gadjovich Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones Dmitry Kulikov – Jeff Petry We'll see if Petry does in fact have a leg up on incumbent Uvis Balinskis, but don't be surprised to see the latter in Saturday's lineup in a similar spot. POWER PLAY PP1: Bennett – Reinhart – Marchand – Jones – Ekblad The top power play positioning was Reinhart playing bumper, Marchand net front, Bennett working the right side, Ekblad on the left and Jones working the point. PP2: Lundell – Rodrigues – Verhaeghe – Samoskevich - Petry PENALTY KILL Luostarinen – Kunin – Ekblad – Forsling Lundell – Marchand – Jones – Mikkola Rodrigues – Boqvist – Petry – Kulikov One interesting thing to note is that Sam Reinhart wasn’t used on the penalty kill. Now these units are far from set in stone, and even if they are the exact same groups that we see on Opening Night, it’s a safe bet that players are going to be shifted around as the season progresses. But now we’ve got a starting off point. We’ll see how things look on Saturday night when the Cats wrap up their preseason slate against the Lightning in Sunrise. Stay tuned. LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Penalty-filled contest consumes Panthers preseason loss to Tampa Bay [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/penalty-filled-contest-consumes-panthers-preseason-loss-to-tampa-bay] Panthers Agree To Eight-Year Contract Extension With Niko Mikkola [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/panthers-agree-to-eight-year-contract-extension-with-niko-mikkola] Florida Panthers remove 33 players from training camp roster as Opening Night nears [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/florida-panthers-remove-33-players-from-training-camp-roster-as-opening-night-nears] Panthers bring Stanley Cup to Epic Universe during day off in Orlando [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/panthers-bring-stanley-cup-to-epic-universe-during-day-off-in-orlando] Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov spotted on crutches visiting Miami Heat training camp practice [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/players/florida-panthers-captain-sasha-barkov-spotted-on-crutches-visiting-miami-heat-training-camp-practice] Photo caption: Oct 2, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; linesman Jonathan Deschamps (80) drops the puck for a face-off between Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) and Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Mitchell Chaffee (41) in the second period at Benchmark International Arena. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
