FORT LAUDERDALE – After a four-game road trip, the Florida Panthers are finally back in town and will go head-to-head with the Vancouver Canucks at Amerant Bank on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
Off to a solid start despite some early-season adversity, Florida sits at 3-2-0 in the standings.
“We’re continuing to work to maintain that identity in our game, that all our defensive play leads to our offense,” said Sam Reinhart following the team’s morning skate. “That’s what frustrates the opponents and that’s what we’re going to have to do tonight.”
After coming up short in the first two stops of their road trip, the Panthers managed to turn things around at the end and – despite missing key pieces in Aleksander Barkov (lower-body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness) -- finished strong with back-to-back wins at Boston and Columbus to close it out.
On Monday, Reinhart and Anton Lundell each scored twice in a 4-3 win over the Bruins.
On Tuesday -- in a very emotional game against the Blue Jackets -- Spencer Knight made 35 stops between the pipes, including a game-securing save in the closing seconds of yet another 4-3 win.
For the second straight game, Reinhart also came up in the clutch with a team-high three points.
Without Barkov and Tkachuk, the line of Reinhart, Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen has been huge.
“We have played together a little bit right now,” said Luostarinen, who also found the back of the net against the Blue Jackets. “I think we just find each other out there and they both can make plays. They're smart players, so it's pretty easy to play with them.”
In the last two games, the line has a combined for 10 points (seven goals, three assists), 11 shots on goal and a +14 plus/minus rating.
Each of the forwards has also lit the lamp in that stretch, including three goals each from Reinhart and Lundell.
Continuing to carry a hot-stick, Reinhart ranks tied for second in the league with four goals and leads the NHL with two shorthanded strikes.
“Any goal scorer will tell you when they see it go in the back of net, it makes it that much easier to keep it going,” said Reinhart, who scored a career-high 57 goals last season.
Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in net tonight.
In his career, Bobrovsky owns a .909 save percentage and 2.83 goals-against average against the Canucks.
After back-to-back overtime losses to the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday by a score of 4-1 to open up their four-game road trip.
Brock Boeser and Conor Garland lead the Canucks with three points (two goals, one assist) each. Over Vancouver’s first three games, 14 different skaters have recorded at least one point.
Yet to be announced, getting the start for Vancouver will either be Arturs Silovs, who has posted a .827 save percentage in two games, or Kevin Lankinen, with a .935 save percentage in his lone start.
THEY SAID IT
“We started this trip a little slow and not to our game. Then I think we just got better when the road trip went on and this game too, we just battled it through.” – Eetu Luostarinen on ending road trip strong
“It will be nice. It's good to go on the road as a group in the beginning of the season, but it will be nice to come home.” – Dmitry Kulikov on returning home after road trip
FIVE CATS STATS
- Sam Reinhart ranks tied for second in the NHL with 8 points.
- Sam Bennett leads the team with 20 shots on goal.
- Anton Lundell is 53.4% in the faceoff circle.
- Jonah Gadjovich has logged a team-high 25 hits.
- Niko Mikkola has blocked 10 shots.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
A.J. Greer – Jesper Boqvist – Mackie Samoskevich
Jonah Gadjovich – Patrick Giles – Uvis Balinskis
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Nate Schmidt – Adam Boqvist
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- Oct. 11: F Patrick Giles recalled to Florida
- Oct. 9: F MacKenzie Entwistle and G Chris Driedger assigned to Charlotte (AHL) | G Spencer Knight recalled to Florida
- Oct. 8: Carter Verhaeghe signed an eight-year contract extension starting in 2025-26.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
**TV & Streaming**: Panthers+, WSFL-TV, WHDT, WFTX, ESPN+ (out of market)
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); Panthers App; SiriusXM App & Streaming 931
Tickets: Click Here
Theme Night: Italianfest
