PREGAME BY THE NUMBERS: Panthers visit Jets at 8PM

The Florida Panthers visit the Winnipeg Jets tonight, and goalie Jacob Markstrom has been listed on injured reserve since Oct. 20.

Puck drop is 8:00 p.m. EDT in Winnipeg. It's the Panthers' fourth and final game of this road trip.

Here's the detail that shapes the goalie picture. According to the latest injury report, updated Oct. 25, Jacob Markstrom is listed as out until at least Nov. 4.

He's also the goalie with the best numbers on this roster. Six starts, a shutout, a 2.21 GAA.

Florida's road trip finale meets a Jets team in a five-game skid

Florida sits 6-4-2 and ninth in the East, with the third wild card spot outside its grasp. Winnipeg is 4-4-3 and 11th in the West.

The Jets' form is the uglier of the two. They've lost five straight, and every one of those games was decided by a single goal.

Florida's last week was uneven. A 1-5 loss in Ottawa and a 0-4 loss in Pittsburgh, where an empty-netter was allowed, came before Sunday's 3-2 win in Chicago. Lars Eller scored the winner.

Both teams come in with one day of rest and neither is on a back-to-back. Winnipeg is finishing a two-game homestand.

What do you take from it? Two teams hovering around .500, one searching for any win and the other trying to close a road trip without giving points away.

Close games are Winnipeg's problem. Florida has to avoid becoming the team that finally breaks the streak.

Two power plays stuck in the middle of the pack

The special teams numbers are almost a mirror. Florida's power play ranks 19th in the league and Winnipeg's ranks 20th.

The edge, if there is one, sits on the penalty kill. Florida's PK ranks seventh, while Winnipeg's is 14th and has allowed five goals on 26 opportunities.

That matters because Winnipeg has been taking one-goal games to the wire. One power play goal can decide a night like that.

Florida's crease is thin, and Winnipeg's has been busy

Akira Schmid has started five of his six appearances for Florida. He took the win in Chicago on Sunday, stopping 19 of 21.

His season numbers are shaky, a .872 save percentage. Career-wise against Winnipeg, he's 0-1-0 with a .844.

Cooper Black has one appearance this season, a loss in Pittsburgh where he stopped 18 of 21. He has never faced the Jets.

Winnipeg's Stuart Skinner has started all eight of his games, and he's the steadier of the two with a .911 save percentage. He started Saturday against Montreal.

Against Florida, he's 3-2-0 in his career. Clay Stevenson has three starts and has never faced the Panthers.

Nobody has confirmed a starter for either side. What the sheet does show is that Florida's goaltending has been the more fragile story.

No meeting yet this season, but last year's series was tight

This is the first meeting of the season between these two teams. Game 1 of 2, with the rematch set for Oct. 30 at 7:00 p.m. EDT in Florida.

Last season split 1-1-0, and both games were decided by one goal. Florida won in Winnipeg on Jan. 22, 2-1 in a shootout, with Daniil Tarasov stopping 17 of 18.

Then came a 1-2 loss at home on Jan. 31. Mark Scheifele scored the winner that day, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves in goal.

Over the last five meetings Florida is 2-3-0 and carries a one-game losing streak in the series. The last win was that shootout on Jan. 22.

Injury report: both rosters are carrying bodies on IR

According to the latest injury report, as of Oct. 27, Florida has four players listed on injured reserve. Besides Markstrom, those are Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and Jonah Gadjovich.

Barkov has been listed since Oct. 6, and the report shows him out until at least Nov. 27.

Winnipeg has four listed as well. Josh Morrissey and Vladislav Namestnikov were both listed on Oct. 25.

Garrett Brown and Nick Bjugstad complete the list.

Three things to watch

Winnipeg's one-goal habit. Five straight losses, all by one goal, tells you the Jets aren't getting blown out. Florida can't expect an easy night.

The shot count. Florida averages 28.4 shots a game, while Winnipeg allows 29.1. If the Panthers can tilt the ice, that gap could matter.

The end of the road. Florida is 4-3-2 away from home this season. A fourth road game in a row is a good time to see what kind of road team this is.

Florida's fans have seen this version of the season before, good enough to stay close and just thin enough to wobble. The crease is the story, and nobody knows yet how it will be handled.

Winnipeg has the better goalie numbers on paper and the worse recent results. That's an odd mix, and Florida gets to test it with the trip almost done.

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