The Florida Panthers (4-3-1) open a three-game excursion through the Empire State when they take on the New York Rangers (5-0-1) tonight at the legendary Madison Square Garden.

Florida finally got Matthew Tkachuk back on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to beat the visiting Minnesota Wild, who handed the Panthers a 5-1 loss. Tkachuk drew the secondary helper on the Cats’ lone goal, which was scored by Sam Bennett, with the primary assist going to Carter Verhaeghe. Sergei Bobrovsky will look to bounce back from a difficult start in which he conceded five goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Spencer Knight.

While the Panthers were being handled by the Wild, the Rangers were busy beating the Montreal Canadiens 7-2 at Bell Centre. Filip Chytil (2G/1A) and Kaapo Kakko (1G/2A) each recorded three points in the victory. Artemi Panarin is off to a red-hot start with 13 points, one behind leader Cale Makar.

• WHEN: 7:00 PM ET
• WHERE: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
• ON THE TUBE: Scripps, MSG
• ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (keys)
• SOCIAL: #TimeToHunt, #NYR, #FLAvsNYR, @LitterBoxCatsLBC Facebook
• HOSTILE INTEL: Blueshirt banter
• FLA IN SEASONAL SERIES: Game 1 of 2
• LAST MEETING: @NYR 4, FLA 3 (SO) (summary) – 23-3-2024
• NEXT MEETING: December 30, 2024
• PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (3-2-1 .875 / 3.47 0SO) New York: Shesterkin (4-0-1 .932 / 1.98 1SO)
• PLAYER STATISTICS: Florida/New York

Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Odds)

• Dallas (5-2-0 10P) at BOSTON (3-3-1 7P) 7 p.m.
• St. Louis Blues (4-3-0 8P) at TORONTO (4-2-0 8P) 7 p.m.
• New Jersey (5-3-1 11P) at DETROIT (3-3-0 4P) 7 p.m.
• Minnesota (4-0-2 8P) at TAMPA BAY (4-2-0 8P) 7 p.m.

Inactive: OTT (8P), BUF (7P), MON (5P)