The Florida Panthers will finish a three-game homestand and close the season series with the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena. It is also the last stop of a brief run for both teams, with Florida trying to steady itself after a loss and Chicago beginning a three-game road trip.
The matchup comes with a little more weight because the Panthers’ three-game winning streak ended Monday in a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett scored in that game, and Garnet Hathaway drew the primary assist on Ekblad’s shorthanded goal for his first point as a Panther. Florida still got a look at Jacob Markström in his first appearance since October 17, and he stopped 24 of 28 shots.
Reinhart’s scoring touch has not gone away. He has goals in three straight games and is riding a four-game point streak, which gives Florida a scorer it can lean on even as the results have started to wobble. The Panthers are 8-5-2 with 18 points, a record that keeps them in workable shape but leaves no room for long slumps in a short schedule stretch.
Chicago arrives with a far rougher line. The Blackhawks are 4-10-1 with 9 points and have lost four of their last seven, including a 5-2 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. Wyatt Kaiser and Roman Kantserov scored early for the Blackhawks, but Colorado answered with the last five goals, and four of those came against Spencer Knight. The numbers tell the story plainly: Chicago has been losing more often than it has been competing, and this road trip starts before that can change.
That is why Wednesday matters beyond the calendar marker. It ends Florida’s homestand, starts Chicago’s road swing and closes a season series that has already said enough about where both teams are right now. The Panthers get one more home chance to reset, while the Blackhawks go looking for a turn in form that has not yet shown up in the standings.
