3 Takeaways from the Florida Panthers & Nashville Predators Game 02/25/2025

The Panthers didn’t miss a beat with two players out of the lineup on Tuesday night. Eetu Luostarinen didn’t make the trip to Nashville as he and his wife are expecting a new baby. Thus, Justin Sourdif got the call-up from Charlotte. The young player made a big impact on his first game while playing on a line with Anton Lundell and Jesper Boqvist. Sam Bennett had one of his best games of the season, filling in the emotional leader role that’s currently vacant with no Tkachuk. There was no shortage of bad blood, which resulted in plenty of special teams and penalties. The Panthers haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation since late December, and they’re still in a close fight with Toronto for first place in the division.

Bright Future:

Florida had three notable young players on the ice against the Predators: Lundell, Knight, and Sourdif. Lundell and Knight obviously are playing full-time with the Panthers, but Sourdif is still developing down in the AHL. That said, Sourdif had a fantastic game with the Cats. When interviewed before the game, Justin said, “I just want to be able to help the team win. Playing physical, just playing my game, not trying to do anything extra.” He didn’t look out of place as Lundell’s right wing and played just under nine and a half minutes. Sourdif made the most of his limited TOI as he had two SOG and scored what ended up being the game-winner for his first NHL goal. He skated past one of the Nashville defenders and then had a give-and-go with Jesper Boqvist. As he drove to the net, Boqvist sent the puck back, and he buried it with a shot that went in just under the crossbar for the 2-0 lead in the second period. Sourdif’s performance earned him 1st star honors. Even with his normal PK partner out, Lundell still had a fantastic game paired up with Boqvist on the penalty-killing unit. Anton had nearly 18 minutes of ice time with almost six full minutes on special teams between the power play and penalty kill. His growth as a player this season has been excellent as he improves his game and is trusted with more responsibility. Spencer Knight’s latest outing was once again great, despite not having a very busy night. He only faced 19 SOG and allowed 1 goal for a .947 SV%. In a nice full-circle moment, Knight got the start against Nashville, which was his last start before he went into the player assist program and now his 80th NHL game. He made a couple of big saves that the team needed, and his strong game earned him 2nd star honors.

Gordie Howe Hat Trick:

If there’s one player on the Panthers I’d predict to score a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, it’d be Sam Bennett, given the edge that he plays with. Bennett broke the ice with a power-play goal off a feed from Reinhart. The Cats were able to pull the Preds out of position and that left both Reinhart and Bennett with no coverage. Reinhart drew Saros out of position and then passed to Bennett, who used a back-hander shot to tuck the puck in for the 1-0 lead early in the first period. Sam picked up the fighting part early in the third period after he dropped gloves with Cole Smith for a post-whistle hit on Reinhart. The fight was brewing after the second period as Bennett had gotten called for boarding Roman Josi, and Schenn had taken him down to the ice early in the third period in retaliation. The hit on Reinhart was a step too many, and Bennett finally had enough when the gloves dropped. During the 4v4, Bennett’s forechecking allowed him to strip the puck and then got the pass off to Mackie Samoskevich, who scored for the 4-1 final score, and Sam got the only assist on the play.

Penalties & Special Teams:

There was no shortage of special teams, as the Panthers got five power plays and Nashville had two. Carron was called for delay of game less than a minute in, and that would be the only man advantage the Cats converted into a goal. A Greer hooking penalty gave the Preds their first power play, but Florida killed it off, and the PK units did good work along the boards to win puck battles and cleared the zone. The final two penalties of the first period went to Nyquist (tripping) and Evangelista (goalie interference), but better execution from the Preds and timely saves from Saros kept the Panthers from scoring any more power-play goals. The first fight of the night was between Gadjovich and McCarron right off the faceoff two minutes into the middle period. Hot tensions from the first period extended into the second, and the fight earned both players a five-minute major penalty and stick taps from their teammates. Bennett’s boarding call made tempers go from bad to worse. A nasty hit on one of the Panthers went uncalled, but during that same play, Smith was called for a high-stick, so Florida got a man advantage out of it anyway. Another high stick was called on Sissons early in the third period, and then 45 seconds later, Bennett dropped gloves with Smith. Finally, off-setting cross-checking penalties on Balinskis and Forsberg led to the Samoskevich goal during the 4v4. Despite taking several penalties this match, with some of them being offsetting, the Panthers only gave up two power plays, which is around where they want to be for the Playoffs. A Stanley Cup Final rematch is set to be played in Sunrise on Thursday.