Game 2 of the Global Series between Florida and Dallas kicked off Saturday afternoon. After what was a highly offensive first game, this one was much more defensively focused. Depth scoring continues to be good for the Panthers, and each of the Finns got on the score sheet in both games. Tomas Nosek played his first two games with the Panthers and he’s been great in the faceoff circle as well as adding experience to the fourth line. HC Paul Maurice adjusted the lines a bit on this trip, swapping Samoskevich to the fourth line and J. Boqvist up to the third line to play with Lundell and Luostarinen. Game 2 was riddled with special teams and fights, as things were more chippy the second time around than in Game 1. Overall, the Panthers had a very successful trip to Finland and walked away with four more points, extending their lead in the Atlantic division.
Finnish Stars Shine Bright:
In front of friends, family, and a hometown crowd, the Panthers Finnish players showed up big time during the Global Series. Mikkola had a fantastic game, in addition to notching another assist he made some big plays and put the team in a great position. He was shooting more and continued to be stout defensively, including one goal-saving play where he broke up a cross-ice pass by diving into the passing lane. He also had the second-highest ice time out of anyone; his partner, Kulikov, was the only player to log more time. Lundell ran a chunk of time centering the Panthers’ second line with Tkachuk and Verhaeghe as the wingers. It’s not a combination that fans have seen much of, but Lundell’s proving that he can handle a big load for the team and be a top-six forward. Barkov did Barkov things, so of course, he scored another assist on the power play goal from Matthew Tkachuk. He even gave his hometown crowd a rare treat in that he got called for hooking in the second period. Sasha doesn’t take many penalties, so when he does, it’s always a bit of a surprise. Between both games, Barkov tallied five points in six periods, one goal, and four assists. Eetu Luostarinen got on the score sheet with an assist on Sam Reinhart’s empty-net goal at the end of the third period. The four players garnered very loud ovations from the fans in the arena when they were introduced in the starting lineup. HC Paul Maurice did something a little special for both games in that he broke up his lines to allow all four Finns to be on the ice to start the game. Barkov centered Luostarinen and Lundell while Mikkola was on the ice with Forsling to begin the game, and then they returned to their normal assignments. The four Finns were part of nine out of the ten goals that the team scored in two games. The only one who didn’t have a Finnish hand was A.J. Greer’s game-winner in the third period of Saturday’s game. Playing NHL games in their home country meant a lot to those four players, and they showed up big time, making a huge impact on the games.
Fight Club: Finland Edition
Few things in life are guaranteed but the Florida Panthers getting into fights during a game is one of them. It’s rarer that they don’t get into some type of scrum or fight with the opponent, and during Game 2, a boarding hit on Nate Schmidt set things off between Dallas and Florida. If the Panthers take exception to a hit, you can best bet that the entire team on the ice will come after you. Marchment found that out firsthand as his unnecessary hit on Schmidt set the Cats off, and no one defended Schmidt more than Schmidt himself. Once he got up off the ice, Schmidt went after Marchment and was throwing some big punches before the two were finally separated. Naturally, Tkachuk and Bennett were on the ice and went after some Stars’ players because they always seemed to be on the ice when these things went down. Bennett picked up a roughing penalty, as did Dumba for the Stars. Marchment and Schmidt were both awarded a five-minute major for fighting, with Marching picking up the extra boarding penalty. That wasn’t the game’s last scrum, although it was the biggest one. There was more shoving and smaller bouts in the second and third periods, especially after Florida got the 3-2 lead. Matthew Tkachuk took a roughing penalty in the second after one such exchange. In total, both teams had four powerplays and 15 total PIMs.
Fully Healthy Lineup:
With Nosek finally off of LTIR, fans have gotten their first look at what a fully healthy Panthers’ team can do. If they keep playing the way they played these two games against a dangerous Dallas Stars team, Florida winning back-to-back Stanley Cups is very much a possibility. If it can even be believed, you can argue that this team is even better than last year’s, although the defense, while good, could still be better. Nosek has already steadied out the faceoff, he’s currently at a 47.4 FO%, putting him third behind Barkov (61.5 FO%) and Lundell (50.5 FO%); Sam Bennett isn’t too far behind at a 46.2 FO%. Off of one of Nosek’s faceoff wins, he opened the door for A.J. Greer to snipe a shot past DeSmith to score his first goal as a Panther and the ultimate game-winner. The new players added to the roster have filled in the gaps nicely, and they’ve allowed Florida to be more flexible with the line pairings. Balinskis especially has been an impressive flexible player as he spent eight games playing forward when Barkov was out injured and is currently tasked with quarterbacking the top power-play unit. Evan Rodrigues opened the scoring for a second straight game, Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal off a great feed from Barkov, and Sam Reinhart became the fastest Panther to hit 20 points doing so in 13 games. Spencer Knight is settling into the backup goalie role well after a rough debut. One thing that will hopefully come down as the season goes along is the goals against average; for both Knight and Bobrovsky, it’s sitting just above 3 GAA at the moment. The wins to regulation losses are the same, though; Bob has six wins and two losses, while Knight has three wins and one loss; Bobrovsky has the only OT loss on the season. Knight made some great saves during Saturday’s game, and if the defense can improve over the course of the season, then the rest of the NHL would be better off looking out because the Cats are hunting for a second Stanley Cup. Florida is currently 6-0-1 against teams that made the playoffs last year, and they have won seven straight games away from Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida’s back in action on Thursday against Nashville in Sunrise.
