A long road trip for the Cats was capped off by their two Global Series games in Tampere, Finland. The success found in New York continued as Florida picked up two more wins in Barkov’s hometown against a tough Dallas Stars team. The Panthers spent a couple of days bonding before things got underway on the ice. Anton Lundell was in charge of the schedule in Helsinki, while Barkov handled the schedule in Tampere. The team experienced plenty of native food and saunas; they were even gifted custom robes by Bill Zito, which they chose to wear as their arrival outfits to both games. Barkov, Mikkola, Lundell, and Luostarinen all had friends and family in attendance, some of whom watched them play NHL games for the first time in their careers. The wins aside, the Panthers had an extremely successful trip to Finland, which generated more team chemistry in the process. The players and coaching staff had nothing but praise for their hosts and spoke highly of how passionate the fans were and how great the atmosphere was.
Game 1:
Game 1 was all Florida for the majority of the sixty minutes. Two goals late in the third period from Dallas made things look closer than they actually were. While Dallas held the advantage in most stat categories, they struggled to solve the Florida defense and forechecking. HC Paul Maurice did something special for his starting lineup, he broke up his lines to allow all four Finns to be on the ice and get introduced. Barkov centered Lundell and Luostarinen, while Mikkola was paired with Forsling. The four players received very loud cheers from the crowd when they were introduced, and then they returned to their normal assignments. It didn’t take long for the Panthers to break the ice as Evan Rodrigues scored just 28 seconds into the period off a tip-in on Ekblad’s shot, with Barkov getting the secondary assist. Barkov then scored about seven minutes later with a wicked wrister shot from the slot. The hometown hero got a loud ovation from the crowd following the goal and gave the Cats a 2-0 lead heading to the midway point of the period. Each team had a powerplay chance, and while Dallas didn’t score during theirs, they did get one back right afterward off a shot from Seguin to make it 2-1. But Florida wasn’t done scoring yet as Anton Lundell tipped in a shot from the blue line from Aaron Ekblad, and Bennett got the secondary assist during their powerplay. A 3-1 lead for the Cats going into the second period. Each goal had some type of Finnish involvement, be it scoring or getting an assist.
Quickly in the second, Esa Lindell found the back of the net to once again make it a one-goal game, with 3-2 Florida leading. Mackie Samoskevich got called for hooking and if there was a question on which team was winning the special teams fight, Reinhart answered that question for everyone. Using his speed and with Barkov in tow to help, they created a 2-on-1 chance where Reinhart ripped a shot far side from the top of the faceoff circle for his third shorthanded goal of the year. More penalties plagued the second period as Mikkola picked up a roughing and a holding penalty, Jamie Benn was called for roughing for Dallas, and Marchment got called for cross-checking for the Stars. However, Reinhart’s goal was the last goal of the period, and Florida went into the third with a 4-2 lead.
Fantastic work by the fourth line got Mackie Samoskevich on the scoresheet after a quick transition. A hard shot from the faceoff circle found the back of the net, extending the Panthers’ lead to 5-2. This was a new look. The fourth line was Greer-Nosek-Samoskevich paired together, and they made the most of their time on ice. In a sequence that showed what an incredible pairing Barkov and Reinhart are, Barkov made a no-look pass from the goal line right to Reinhart, who is waiting on the far side of the crease. A quick tap-in shot from Reinhart went straight into the net for the 6-2 Florida lead. Reinhart was quick to credit Barkov on the ice for the pass and even looked shocked at how accurate the pass was. Dallas cut the lead to three off a Bourque goal with about five minutes left in the period. A very late Jamie Benn goal on a bit of a broken play made the final score 6-4, indicating a much closer game than it was. While Bobrovsky’s SV% wouldn’t indicate a good night, he still made some incredible saves when the Panthers needed them. The Finns were all over the scoresheet with each of the six goals having at least one Finnish player in on it. Barkov earned First Star honors on a four-point night, 1 goal, 3 assists, while Reinhart was named the second star with his 2 goals and 1 assist. It was a great first game for the Panthers, and with Nosek back in the lineup, it steadied out the faceoff circle quite a bit.
Game 2:
Just like Game 1, HC Paul Maurice split his lines up to allow Barkov, Mikkola, Lundell, and Luostarinen to all get introduced in front of the raucous crowd. It took a bit longer this go around, but once again, Evan Rodrigues opened the scoring off a tip-in; this time, Mikkola was the one who made the shot with Reinhart on the secondary assist. The goal came following a strong PK from the Panthers as Ekblad got called for slashing. It wouldn’t be the last penalty of the day as tempers flared for both teams. Rodrigues did, however, score the only goal of the period. Just after the goal, Marchment boarded Nate Schmidt and set off both teams. It was an all-out fight behind the Dallas net, with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett quick to defend their teammate, but Schmidt did most of the defending himself. Once he got up from the ice, he immediately went after Marchment and threw hard and heavy punches. Out of that mess, Schmidt was given a 5-minute major for fighting, Bennett was called for roughing, Dumba got called for roughing, and Marchment received a 5-minute major for fighting and a boarding call. While the Stars killed off the penalty, the fight set the tone for how the rest of the game would go and the chippiness that would endure. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead into the second period.
The carousel of penalties continued in the second period, with Florida taking three and Dallas taking two: Ekblad (holding), Barkov (hooking), Tkachuk (roughing), Lindell (hooking), Robertson (hooking). The Panthers converted the first Dallas penalty into a 2-0 lead, with Tkachuk scoring the power play goal. A shot from Balinskis at the blue line allowed Tkachuk to tip in the shot past DeSmith. Barkov’s secondary assist marked eight straight Panther goals, with one of the Finns contributing to it, and meant that Sasha left Tampere with five points in six periods of hockey. However, on Barkov’s hooking penalty, Dallas would cut the lead in half with Dadonov scoring a power play goal. The Stars then tied the game just 34 seconds later with Duchane finding the back of the net. It’s not ideal for the Cats, but the third period was still left to play, and Florida’s a great third-period team.
The tie didn’t last long in the third period. Tomas Nosek won a faceoff, and then AJ Greer’s wrister shot went straight into the back of the net. While this broke the Finnish involvement streak it did give the Panthers the one-goal lead. The penalties also finally calmed down in the third, with Marchment getting called for hooking as the lone infraction. Florida spent much of the period defending its lead and creating pressure. In an interesting twist, it was noted that HC Paul Maurice had opted to swap his second and third line centers. Lundell moved up with Tkachuk and Verhaeghe, while Bennett played with Luostarinen and J. Boqvist. It’s unusual, as Maurice doesn’t typically break up his center/winger pairing unless someone is injured. The change may give an already flexible Florida roster even more options to run lines if things aren’t clicking for some reason. It also shows that they’re able to trust Lundell to carry a top-six player load for the team and that he’s made a big step forward in his level of play this season. The period had plenty of shots from both teams, but the goalies were sharp following Greer’s goal, and they hadn’t allowed another in. Sam Reinhart, with an assist from Luostarinen, scored the empty net goal with a minute remaining on the clock. The assist meant that all four of the Cats’ Finnish players got on the scoresheet. The Panthers took the 4-2 win in game two and leave Finland with four more points, and a five-point lead over second place in the Atlantic division. Two strong games for the Cats show that Florida isn’t satisfied with one Stanley Cup, they want to go back-to-back this year.
The Panthers are back in action on Thursday in Sunrise against Nashville.
