SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers will host the Vegas Golden Knights for a rematch for the 2023 Stanley Cup Final when the two clubs clash at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
“I feel every game we play against them is very exciting,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said of the matchup. “There’s a lot of emotions, I feel like. It’s probably going to be a fun game.”
Despite being over a year removed from their loss to the Knights – and having won the Stanley Cup this past season to soften the blow – the Panthers still haven’t forgotten.
“We still want to beat these guys as bad as before,” Forsling said.
Dealing with a tough schedule to start the season, the Panthers closed out a stretch of three games in four nights with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Prior to that, they’d beaten the Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets on the road.
Sitting at 3-2-1 and on a three-game point streak, they’re starting to find their groove.
“I think we’re back to our aggressive forecheck,” Forsling said. “We’re skating way more. I think we’re getting on the same page, and you can tell that we’re getting better each game.”
After experiencing “tightness” and exiting very early against the Canucks, Jonah Gadjovich won’t play tonight. Already missing Aleksander Barkov (lower body), Matthew Tkachuk (illness) and Tomas Nosek (upper body), the Panthers will play down a man against Vegas.
“The minutes part isn’t really a challenge,” head coach Paul Maurice said of rolling with 19 players. “The familiarity part sometimes is. Earlier in the year it’s a bigger challenge than later in the year when you know your players and know where they can play.”
The good news is that the Panthers should be getting healthy soon.
Barkov, Tkachuk and Nosek all skated prior to this morning’s skate at the Baptist Health IcePlex, and all three players, according to Maurice, are still on track in their recoveries.
Tkachuk is expected to return to the lineup against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, while Barkov is likely to return during one of the games in New York (Oct. 24-28) prior to the Global Series in Finland on Nov. 1 and 2. Nosek, who is on IR, should return in Finland.
With key pieces missing, the Panthers have been seeing the majority of their offense come from the lethal line of Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Over the last three games, those three skaters have combined for 12 points (eight goals, four assists).
Sergei Bobrovsky was the first goalie off the ice this morning, which means he could be in line to man the crease against Vegas. Standing on his head in his last outing against the Canucks, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stopped a season-high 30 shots.
Across the ice, Vegas sits at 3-2-0.
After opening their season with three straight wins, the Knights have struggled in the first two games of their current three-game road trip. After losing 4-2 at Washington on Oct. 15, they let a 3-2 lead slip away during the third period of a 4-3 loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Flying out of the gate, Jack Eichel leads Vegas in scoring with 10 points (two goals, eight assists), while linemates Mark Stone (nine points) and Ivan Barbashev (eight points) are close behind. On the blue line, Shea Theodore has chipped in seven points.
Lethal with the extra attacker, Vegas ranks sixth in the NHL on the power play at 31.3%.
Between the pipes, it’ll either be Adin Hill or Ilya Samsonov for the Knights. Hill has started four of the team’s five games, posting a 2-2-0 record with a .851 save percentage. In his lone start, Samsonov made 22 saves in a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 13.
“There’s a familiarity there,” Maurice said of Vegas. “Two teams that get to the Final in the last two years, they’re both probably pretty good teams. You know going to the rink that you’re going to need to be on your game.”
MORNING VIDEO
Hear from Gustav Forsling following this morning's skate in the clip below.
