Early look The full preview opens on Tuesday 9 February, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Colorado Avalanche at Florida Panthers: game preview

Puck drop12 Feb · 7:00 PM ET
VenueAmerant Bank Arena
All-time meetings51 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Thirty-seven points apart last season

Colorado finished last season 1st in the league on 121 points. Florida finished 25th on 84.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 52

Across 51 completed games, Colorado lead the head-to-head 30-14-7.

All-time record30-14-7Colorado's record in the series
Meetings played51This is number 52
2025-26 series—
Last 53-2Colorado
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
4 Jan 2026COL 1 – FLA 2——FLA
11 Dec 2025FLA 2 – COL 6——COL
6 Jan 2025FLA 1 – COL 3——COL
23 Nov 2024COL 7 – FLA 4——COL
10 Feb 2024COL 0 – FLA 4——FLA
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateColoradoFlorida
11 Dec 202522-2-7 · 51 pts1st15-13-2 · 32 pts21st
4 Jan 202631-3-7 · 69 pts1st22-16-3 · 47 pts12th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 11 Dec 2025, Colorado were 1st in the league and Florida 21st. By 4 Jan 2026 it was 1st and 12th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Colorado out-attempted Florida 133 to 101

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Colorado Avalanche

133 att · 70 on goal · 7 G · 10.0%
Crease9 att · 1 G
Slot55 att · 4 G
Wing39 att · 1 G
Point26 att · 1 G
Neutral zone4 att · 0 G

Florida Panthers

101 att · 50 on goal · 4 G · 8.0%
Crease5 att · 0 G
Slot47 att · 3 G
Wing34 att · 1 G
Point13 att · 0 G
Neutral zone2 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Colorado have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

ColoradoFlorida
3.16xG for per game3.01
2.55xG against per game2.34
55.4%xG share56.3%
+7.7FinishingGoals minus expected goals−4.0
+0.1GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+1.4

This season: 2 games for Colorado, 4 for Florida. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Colorado

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2744.4%
Power play · 2025-2617.1% · 27th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-27100.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2684.6% · 1st
Faceoffs · 2026-2746.8% · 58/124
Drawn · 2026-279 (4.50/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-276 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Florida

Small sample
Power play · 2026-274.3%
Power play · 2025-2619.5% · 19th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2778.9%
Penalty kill · 2025-2681.0% · 9th
Faceoffs · 2026-2750.2% · 115/229
Drawn · 2026-2723 (5.75/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2719 (4.75/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
88Martin Necas22242.00
19Matthew Tkachuk42130.75
20Lars Eller40330.75
9Sam Bennett40330.75
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Josh Manson21231.50
8Cale Makar21231.50
7Devon Toews20221.00
3Seth Jones41010.25
42Gustav Forsling31010.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 9 Feb: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 3 Feb: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Colorado crease

COL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 9 Feb

Mackenzie Blackwood.9122 GP · 2-0-0 · GSAx +0.1

No appearances against Florida in the last meetings.

Florida crease

FLA · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 9 Feb

Jacob Markstrom.9273 GP · 2-0-1 · GSAx +3.2
Akira Schmid.8751 GP · 0-0-1 · GSAx −1.0

No appearances against Colorado in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.2 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

4 Jan 20263 · COL 1–2 FLA
11 Dec 20258 · FLA 2–6 COL
6 Jan 20254 · FLA 1–3 COL
23 Nov 202411 · COL 7–4 FLA
10 Feb 20244 · COL 0–4 FLA

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Colorado7.002.503.682.48
Florida2.002.003.063.37

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.2Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings6.0Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

9 on the injury lists

Colorado · injuries

Georgii MerkulovUndisclosedIRReturn16 Oct
Logan O'ConnorLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct
Trent MinerUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
Zachary L'HeureuxLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct

Florida · injuries

Aaron EkbladPersonalOutReturn10 Oct
Aleksander BarkovLower BodyIRReturn27 Nov
Brad MarchandLegDay-to-dayReturn10 Oct
Jonah GadjovichUpper BodyIRReturn17 Oct
MacKenzie EntwistleUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
27 Sep · COL

Placed LD Keaton Middleton, LD Wyatt Aamodt, RW/LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and LW Tristen Nielsen on waivers.

27 Sep · COL

Placed D Keaton Middleton, D Wyatt Aamodt, LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and G Mads Sogaard Nielsen on waivers.

25 Sep · COL

Reassigned Ds Domenick Fensore, Saige Weinstein and Christian Wolanin to Colorado (AHL).

3 Oct · FLA

Placed C Aleksander Barkov on long-term injured reserve. Called up D Alexander Petrovic from Charlotte (AHL).

3 Oct · FLA

Placed C Aleksander Barkov on long-term injured reserve.

27 Sep · FLA

Placed RW/C Cole Schwindt, RD Alexander Petrovic, LD Donovan Sebrango, LW Kai Schwindt, LW Cole Reinhardt, RW Sam Lafferty and C/LW John Beecher on waivers. Agreed to terms with RW Nathan Bastian on a 1-year, two-way contract.

Injury report
#43Egor ShilovRound 2 · VictoriavilleC
#74Beckett HamiltonRound 3 · Red DeerC
#126Tobias TvrznikRound 4 · WenatcheeG
#128Axel ElofssonRound 4 · Orebro Jr.D
Full draft
#40Simas IgnataviciusRound 2 · GeneveRW
#48Ryder CaliRound 2 · North BayC
#98Jonas KempsRound 4 · ChicagoD
#168Vilho VanhataloRound 6 · Tappara Jr.RW
Full draft

Updated after every final