The Florida Panthers have endured a roller coaster ride to start the season, but goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been steady in his return to the franchise that drafted him 31st overall in the 2008 NHL Draft.
“It’s been a good trip. Really, really good trip. I like our 5-on-5 game an awful lot… They’re battling and they’re dialed in. They’re not cheating the game.”
Maurice on the team’s performance through the first road trip. pic.twitter.com/wLgIJ72iHg
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 7, 2026
Three road starts. All home openers for their opponent, including a Stanley Cup banner ceremony for the Carolina Hurricanes. Another injury to captain Sasha Barkov., thankfully with a better prognosis than last season. The triumphant but short-lived return of Brad Marchand.
The Panthers got 6 of a possible 8 points on the road.
This has a chance to be the NHL’s best team again, if everyone stops getting hurt. Update on Brad Marchand in the next couple of days.
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) October 7, 2026
Through all the trials and tribulations, the Panthers opened the 2026-27 season by earning points in four consecutive road games. With different line combinations in the forward corps due to injuries, the Florida offense overall, and especially the power play have been inconsistent.
Head coach Paul Maurice was able to lean on Markstrom to steady the ship and the 36-year old veteran in his 18th season has not disappointed.
The Panthers have been superb in five-on-five situations, allowing just two goals in such instances in three appearances. Markstrom has a .967 save percentage at five aside, tied for sixth in the NHL per EDGE stats.
Advanced stats tell more of the story as the Panthers are once again spending a tremendous amount of time in the offensive zone early in the season at all strengths. Florida ranks fourth in the NHL so far spending 44.1% of their time in the offensive zone, and fifth in defensive zone time at 37.5%.
Markstrom is sporting a 1.27 goals-against-average, allowing just four goals on 55 shots. It was a question mark going into the season on how Markstrom would fill the void left by Sergei Bobrovsky.
“He’s been unbelievable. Great goaltender, great person off the ice, blended with us chemistry-wise away from the rink perfectly and in the locker room… He’s been a rock back there.”
Panthers defenseman Seth Jones
With three full days in between games, the Panthers have a moment to reset as they finally prepare for their home opener on October 10th against the Minnesota Wild.
The Panthers defense in front of Markstrom can use a respite as the blue liners are skating the third most miles per game league-wide (8.83) per NHL EDGE stats. Florida’s defensive zone time metric has been strong overall except on the penalty kill where the Panthers rank 10th.
Markstrom has bounced back early from a rough 2025 season, but the Panthers will need more as they begin a stretch of five games in eight nights on Saturday.
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