The National Hockey League has been in Florida since the 1990’s when the league expanded to the Sunbelt region. On January 2 the Sunshine State will play the coolest game on earth outside with the NHL Winter Classic.
One of the league’s premier events will feature an Original Six squad in the New York Rangers against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Dealing with injuries all season the Panthers had won 9 of their last 12 games before Tuesday’s overtime loss to Montreal.
The Rangers are floundering near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings due to their woeful play at home. They are a different club on the road leading the NHL with 14 road victories.
Rangers at Panthers Preview
The home of MLB’s Miami Marlins will host the 2026 NHL Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers on Friday, January 2, 2026. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at LoanDepot Park with television coverage on TNT.
Public Betting Odds Factors
- If it wasn’t for their stellar road record the Rangers would be buried in the Eastern Conference standings. Fourteen of their 19 wins have come on the road and they lead the NHL with 14 away victories through games on Tuesday.
- The Panthers have managed to stay afloat despite missing two of their top three scorers and a top defenseman from a season ago. Matthew Tkachuk, who scored 23 points in 23 playoff games last season has returned to practice and could play on Friday. “We will enjoy the talent upgrade,” Coach Paul Maurice said.
- Without Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, who combined for 128 points a season ago, the Panthers have relied on veteran Brad Marchand for offense. Marchand has a goal in 3 consecutive games and has 14 points in a 9-game point streak.
- Scoring goals has been a concern for the Rangers, who rank next to last in the NHL averaging 2.54 goals per game. They were shutout for the 8th time this season in their first game after the Holiday break, 2-0, by the rival Islanders. They played UNDER the total on the NHL spread in 9 of their past 12 contests.
Rangers at Panthers Predictions
- The NHL’s marquee outdoor event will generate plenty of interest especially with the Blueshirts on the ticket. The Rangers are one of the most iconic teams in the league despite their recent lack of playoff success. The Rangers are a good road team but even that’s shown cracks with three defeats in the first four games of their current 6-game trip.
- With three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final and wins over Edmonton in the last two, the Panthers are becoming a hot commodity in the NHL betting markets. And they know how to play in big games. This isn’t a Cup Final, but it is a marquee event on the NHL calendar.
- With strong goaltenders and former Vezina Trophy winners in New York’s Igor Shesterkin and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, along with New York’s scoring problems, this is a good spot to back the UNDER on the total.
Rangers at Panthers Betting Tips
- New York concludes a 6-game road trip with this matchup and is 19-17-5 overall.
- The Rangers are 31st averaging 2.54 goals per game and boast the 7th best defense allowing 2.68 goals/game.
- Florida is 12th in scoring at 3.18 goals/game and 18th in goals against at 3.15.
- Both teams are in the middle of the pack on the power play. New York has a 19.0 percent success rate (17th) and Florida converts 18.5 percent of the time (19th).
- Florida is 8th with an 82.8 percent penalty kill rate. The Rangers are 15th at 80.5 percent.
Rangers at Panthers Head to Head and Key Stats
- Enroute to the first of two straight Stanley Cup titles the Panthers beat the Rangers in the Eastern Conference 4-2. The last 5 games of the series were decided by a goal with three of them going to overtime. Florida allowed only 12 goals in the series.
- Florida won 2 of 3 games last season and has won 5 of the last 6 overall.
- The teams split the last 2 meetings by identical 5-3 scores cashing the OVER both times. Before that the teams went UNDER the total in 6 of the previous 7 meetings.
