SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers will honor one of the franchise’s true culture curators when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday.
After officially retiring from the NHL this past summer, forward Patric Hornqvist will have his long and illustrious career celebrated with a special ceremony prior to puck drop.
Taken by the Nashville Predators with the last pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, Hornqvist won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 before eventually being acquired by the Panthers in a trade prior to the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Bringing his legendary energy and work ethic to South Florida, Hornqvist’s fingerprints remain all over the incredible success that the Panthers have been enjoying as of late.
“He forces all of us to be better at what we do,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said.
In 131 games with Florida, Hornqvist recorded 26 goals and 37 assists.
Off the ice, he also took pride in pushing his teammates to reach new heights.
“I remember my first summer here,” said Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg, starting to smile. “It was three months before the season and it felt like training camp. He was the one pushing the pace, yelling at guys and saying, ‘Faster! Harder!’ That’s who he is. He’s never changed. That’s why he’s a champion. We were lucky to have him here.”
Stay tuned to FloridaPanthers.com for more on Hornqvist later today.
As for tonight’s tilt, the Panthers are looking to pick up two more points before hitting the road for their longest trip of the season. The last time out, Evan Rodrigues led Florida to a huge 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars with a four-point outing on Wednesday in Sunrise.
With the win, the Cats improved to 15-8-2.
After taking a 3-1 lead, the Panthers didn’t get down when the Stars suddenly got the score to 3-3 with two goals in the first 4:15 of the third period. Pushing back right away, Aleksander Barkov and Rodrigues each scored to regain Florida’s two-goal advantage and stomp out a would-be comeback for Dallas.
Named the three stars of the game, the top line of Rodrigues, Barkov and Sam Reinhart combined for four goals and five assists in the win. Reinhart, still red-hot, leads the team in goals (17) and points (32), while Barkov sits in second with 24 points.
With no lineup changes expected, Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 29 saves against the Stars, will get the nod in net again for the Panthers. Sitting at 12-6-1, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner is 3-0-0 with a .933 save percentage in his last three starts.
“Just playing them hard,” Rodrigues said when asked about the keys against the Penguins. “If they get moving and freewheeling, they’ve obviously extremely dangerous. Just trying to tame their speed a little bit and be physical on them.”
Looking to break out of a three-game skid, the Penguins fell to 11-11-3 with a 3-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Wednesday. Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Jake Guentzel scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh and spoiled Andrei Vasilevskiy’s bid for a shutout with 53 seconds left.
Prior to that loss, the Penguins came up just short in each half of a home-and-home series with the Philadelphia Flyers. After losing 4-3 in a shootout against the Flyers on Saturday, the Penguins fell by a score of 2-1 in overtime in the rematch on Monday.
Since Nov. 22, Pittsburgh is tied for 29th in the NHL with just 16 goals in eight games.
Still, the Panthers know that those numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“Those are tight games,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “They still have world-class players. Their analytics say that they’re one of the best teams in the league. Their second in offense at even strength. I think they’re fourth in expected goals on the power play and it’s not scoring for them. Their goaltending has been really good. They’ve given up 66 [goals], so have we, and we’re one of the best defensive teams in the league. The three losses, for me, don’t tell me where they’re at.”
Guentzel leads the Penguins in assists (19) and points (29), while ageless wonder Sidney Crosby paces the team in goals (15) and ranks second in points (27). Under them, Evgeni Malkin (21) and Bryan Rust (20) have also reached the 20-point plateau.
Between the pipes, Tristan Jarry has earned the bulk of the starts for Pittsburgh, going 8-9-2 with a .917 save percentage in 19 appearances. Backing him up, Alex Nedeljkovic has posted a 2-2-1 record behind a stellar .937 save percentage in five appearances.
Facing off for the first of three matchups this season, the Panthers went 1-1-1 against the Penguins in 2022-23. In their last meeting, Bobrovsky made 31 saves during a 4-1 win in Sunrise on March 4. In that win, Carter Verhaeghe posted a goal and an assist.
In two starts against Pittsburgh last season, Bobrovsky owned a .943 save percentage.
“They’ve still got some big boys who are among the best players in the league,” Lomberg said of the Penguins. “We’ve got to come ready to defend, defend as five and play our strong defensive game.”
PREGAME QUOTES
“I learned a lot from that guy. Just how he competes every practice, every game, just how he handles himself. It's just being a pro. I learned a lot.” – Gustav Forsling on Patric Hornqvist
“We’ve done a good job this year just taking it game by game no matter what the situation is. This is just another Eastern Conference team. We want to play the right way and make sure we’re not cheating the game. As long as we play well defensively, I think we’ll capitalize on their turnovers. I think that’ll be the key to success.” – Evan Rodrigues on wrapping up the homestand tonight
“If you’re looking for how you’re generating offense, they’re going to beat you bad. If you trade even chances with them, history will say the production of the people they have will beat you. I thought we mentally managed that concept against Dallas.” – Paul Maurice on not letting the Penguins get into a groove
FIVE CATS STATS
- The Panthers own a 5-2-0 record in their last seven home games against Pittsburgh.
- Florida ranks second in the NHL in average shots on goal per game with 34.0.
- Sam Reinhart has logged five points (2G, 3A) over his last five games.
- Carter Verhaeghe has touched the twine in each of his last three games.
- Aleksander Barkov is tied for first in the NHL in plus/minus with a +18 rating.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Nick Cousins
Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola - Brandon Montour
Oliver-Ekman Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Dec. 3: D Uvis Balinskis recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Dec. 1: D Uvis Balinskis loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH
When: Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports+
Radio: 790 WAXY (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Tickets: Here
