The Florida Panthers are trying to skate toward a third consecutive Stanley Cup championship this season. Florida has had their share of struggles during this campaign, and that was the case again on Monday night. The Panthers dropped a 5-3 game to the Buffalo Sabres.
Following the contest, Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk made a bold admission about his club.
“They're way more skilled than us, that team,” Tkachuk said of Buffalo, per Sabre Source. “From an individual standpoint, skill, they have us by a lot.”
“Honestly, They’re way more skilled than us” – Matthew Tkachuk on the Buffalo Sabres pic.twitter.com/LDWfqlgQDV
— sabresource (@sabresource1) February 3, 2026
The Panthers fell to 28-24-3 on the season following the loss. Florida has now dropped four games in a row.
“We are in trouble right now,” Tkachuk said, per NHL.com. “We cannot try to outskill teams, and I don’t think that’s what we were trying to do tonight. But at some points in the game we are doing that, playing into their hands. We just have to get back to the basics, try to win a 1-0, 2-1 game here. Just try to go from there. We’re in one right now. If we don’t simplify things, this year is going to get away from us.”
Florida has also now dropped six of their last 10 contests.
Panthers must find a way to start stringing wins together
Florida is truly skating on thin ice right now. The Panthers have been rocked by injuries all season, and that also continued on Monday. Sam Bennett left the game after the first period with what is being described as an upper-body injury.
“It seems like someone is getting injured every night,” Tkachuk said, who also missed a substantial amount of time this season while recovering from surgery.
The Panthers and their coaches are not using injuries as an excuse. In fact, Florida coach Paul Maurice says his team is still battling.
“We gave up 20 shots and in the past six or seven games, we’ve only had one over 22,” Maurice said. “They are grinding, battling as hard as they can. With the number [of shots] we had, I have no complaint with what we did. You can always look at decisions we made with the puck, maybe we could have done something better with it. But for what we had … I have no complaint with how hard they are trying.”
Florida next plays the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
