The Florida Panthers’ full 2026-27 schedule is out. Key dates to know
The first handful of Florida Panthers games for the 2026-27 season were already known, including them starting at the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 29, then going on a West Coast trip before finally playing their first home game on Oct. 10 against the Minnesota Wild.
Now, the full schedule is publicly available as the Panthers aim to return to championship contention.
The NHL unveiled the 84-game regular-season schedules for all 32 teams on Thursday afternoon.
Florida missed the playoffs last season following three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final (including winning it all in 2024 and 2025) as injuries — most notably to captain Aleksander Barkov, star winger Matthew Tkachuk, veteran Brad Marchand and key defensemen Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov — ravaged the roster.
The Panthers added to the roster by trading for forwards Brady Tkachuk and Garnet Hathaway plus goaltender Jacob Markstrom (who replaced Sergei Bobrovsky as the team’s starter in net), while also signing forward Lars Eller and defenseman Radko Gudas.
Some notables from the schedule:
- Florida plays 10 of its first 13 games on the road.
- Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa is on Oct. 21, the first game of Florida’s third road trip
- The Panthers’ four games against their in-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning: Home games on Nov. 28 and Dec. 28, road games on Feb. 16 and March 23.
- Bobrovsky’s return to Sunrise with the Maple Leafs doesn’t come until pretty late in the season; Toronto’s two games in Florida are on March 6 and April 1. The Panthers go to Toronto on Dec. 3 and March 15.
- The Panthers have two separate five-game homestands: First from Dec. 19-Dec. 30 against Calgary, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Nashville and Buffalo and then from March 2-12 against Utah, Pittsburgh, Toronto, New Jersey and the New York Islanders.
- Florida has 14 sets of back-to-backs.
- The schedule ends with the same opponent it begins with: The Carolina Hurricanes, except the finale is in Sunrise on April 10.
The league expanded the season from 82 to 84 games to create balance in divisional matchups. Every team will now face every divisional opponent four times — twice at home, twice on the road — after facing some teams just three times per year since the 2021-22 season. Team will also face every team in the opposing division in their conference (in Florida’s case, the Metropolitan Division) three times and every team from the opposing conference (in Florida’s case, the Western Conference) twice.
Full Florida Panthers schedule
September
Sept. 29 @ Carolina, 5 p.m.
October
Oct. 1 @ San Jose, 10 p.m.; Oct. 4 @ Anaheim, 8 p.m.; Oct. 6 @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.; Oct. 10 vs. Minnesota, 6 p.m.; Oct. 12 @ Buffalo, 1 p.m.; Oct. 13 @ Columbus, 6:15 p.m.; Oct. 15 vs. Vancouver, 7 p.m.; Oct. 17 vs. Seattle, 6 p.m.; Oct. 21 @ Ottawa, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 22 @ Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.; Oct. 25 @ Chicago, 3 p.m.; Oct. 27 @ Winnipeg, 8 p.m.; Oct. 30 vs. Winnipeg, 7 p.m.
November
Nov. 2 vs. Detroit, 7 p.m.; Nov. 4 vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 7 @ Washington, 12:30 p.m.; Nov. 8 @ Boston, 1 p.m.; Nov. 10 @ Columbus, 7 p.m.; Nov. 12 vs. Detroit, 7 p.m.; Nov. 14 @ St. Louis, 7 p.m.; Nov. 15 @ Dallas, 8 p.m.; Nov. 17 vs. Edmonton, 7 p.m.; Nov. 25 vs. Ottawa, 7 p.m.; Nov. 27 @ Washington, 3 p.m.; Nov. 28 vs. Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.
December
Dec. 1 @ New York Islanders, 7 p.m.; Dec. 3 @ Toronto, 7 p.m.; Dec. 5 @ Montreal, 1 p.m.; Dec. 8 vs. Boston, 7 p.m.; Dec. 10 vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.; Dec. 12 @ Detroit, 7 p.m.; Dec. 14 @ Philadelphia, 7 p.m.; Dec. 15 @ Boston 7 p.m.; Dec. 19 vs. Calgary, 1 p.m.; Dec. 21 vs. St. Louis, 7 p.m.; Dec. 26 vs. Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.; Dc. 28 vs. Nashville, 7 p.m.; Dec. 30 vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m.
January
Jan. 1 @ Nashville, 2 p.m.; Jan. 2 vs. Montreal, 4 p.m.; Jan. 5 @ Calgary, 9 p.m.; Jan. 7 @ Edmonton, 9 p.m.; Jan. 9 @ Vancouver, 11 p.m.; Jan. 12 @ Seattle, 9:40 p.m.; Jan. 14 @ Minnesota, 9 p.m.; Jan. 16 vs. Vegas, 6 p.m.; Jan. 18, vs. Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Carolina, 7 p.m.; Jan. 24 vs. Los Angeles, 6 p.m.; Jan. 26 @ Philadelphia, 7 p.m.; Jan. 27 @ New York Rangers, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 29 @ Detroit, 7 p.m.
February
Feb. 1 vs. New York Islanders, 1 p.m.; Feb. 3 vs. Washington, 7 p.m.; Feb. 12 vs. Colorado, 7 p.m.; Feb. 13 vs. Dallas, 6 p.m.; Feb. 16 @ Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.; Feb. 18 vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m.; Feb. 20 vs. Anaheim, 5 p.m.; Feb. 21 vs. San Jose, 6 p.m.; Feb. 24 @ Vegas, 8:30 p.m.; Feb. 26, @ Utah, 9 p.m.; Feb. 27 @ Colorado, 7 p.m.
March
March 2 vs. Utah, 7 p.m.; March 4 vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.; March 6 vs. Toronto, 7 p.m.; March 9 vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m.; March 12 vs. New York Islanders, 7 p.m.; March 15 @ Toronto, 7:30 p.m; March 18 @ Ottawa, 7 p.m.; March 20 @ Buffalo, 1 p.m.; March 23 @ Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.; March 25 vs. New York Rangers, 7 p.m.; March 27 vs. Philadelphia, 6 p.m.; March 30 vs. Columbus, 7 p.m.
April
April 1 vs. Toronto, 7 p.m.; April 3 @ New York Rangers, noon; April 4 @ New Jersey, 4:30 p.m.; April 6 vs. Montreal, 7 p.m.; April 9 vs. Boston, 7 p.m.; April 10 vs. Carolina, 6 p.m.
This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 1:25 PM.
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