Gameday 38: Florida Panthers vs Washington Capitals

Graphic design: Francisco Oporta & Todd Little

The Florida Panthers (20-15-2) will continue its three-game run at Amerant Bank Arena when they play host to the Washington Capitals (20-13-5) tonight in Sunrise in a battle between two fourth-place teams.

Florida returned to action from the holiday break on Saturday and were beaten 4-2 by the Tampa Bay Lightning in a feisty, penalty-filled contest. Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring and Brad Marchand notched a 5-on-4 goal off a beautiful passing play to extend his point streak to seven games. Marchand’s man-advantage marker was the only one the Panthers were able to muster on nine power-play chances. Despite the loss, the Cats are still holding down a wild card spot.

The Capitals got an overtime goal from Jakob Chychrun to edge the New Jersey Devils by a 4-3 count at Prudential Center in their first game back from the break. Aliaksei Protas, Anthony Beauvillier and Alex Ovechkin also lit the lamp and Logan Thompson stopped 35 shots for Washington. Chychrun’s goal was his 15th of the season, giving him the lead among all NHL defenseman.

WHEN: 7 pm ET
WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
ON THE TUBE: Scripps, Monumental Sports Network
ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B)
SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #ALLCAPS, #WSHvsFLA, @LitterBoxCatsLBC FaceBook
ENEMY INTEL: Japers’ Rink
FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 3 (1-0)
LAST MEETING: @FLA 6, WSH 3 (Recap) – 11/13/2025
NEXT MEETING: January 17, 2026
PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (16-9-1 .891 / 2.50 0SO) Washington: Thompson (15-9-3 .917 / 2.27 0SO)
PLAYER STATS: Florida / Washington