In their preseason finale, the Florida Panthers dressed as close to an NHL-ready lineup as we’ve seen during training camp.
The Cats looked sharp, playing their familiar physical style, and defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
The main players who did not dress on Saturday were Sam Bennett and Gus Forsling, but both are fine and expected to be good for Opening Night.
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Youngster Sandis Vilmanis skated on the left wing of a forward line with Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues at center and held his own with the two NHLers.
Vilmanis certainly turned some heads during camp and could be on a fast track to the NHL, depending on how his first pro season pans out.
Mackie Samoskevich played his first game of the preseason, lining up on the right wing of Florida’s expected third line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
Both Samoskevich individually and the line as a whole looked good, keeping the trio on track to start the regular season together.
Patrick Giles, perhaps the biggest surprise of Cats camp, skated on what could be Florida’s fourth line on Opening Night, with Jesper Boqvist at center and Jonah Gadjovich on the opposite wing.
The trio combined to log seven shots and earn a plus-4 on-ice rating.
A.J. Greer, who did not dress on Saturday, is another player who could see time on that line, with Florida likely rotating guys in and out, at least early in the season.
Once Tomas Nosek returns from his injury, it will make playing time even more difficult to come by for the fourth line guys, but depth and roster competition is never a bad thing.
Florida’s top power play looked quite good, featuring the usual suspects at forward – Barkov, Tkachuk, Reinhart and Verhaeghe – with newcomer Adam Boqvist working the point.
Barkov finished off a nice give-and-go with Verhaeghe on the Cats first power play during the opening period, with the goal coming on a zone entry after Florida’s first sustained zone time produced a couple solid scoring chances.
The second unit, which saw Rodrigues join the third line and Ekblad, also saw Florida cash in off a nice finish by Lundell after a lucky bounce off the back boards.
Florida’s final two goals both came off the stick of Gadjovich.
The first was a deflection off a point shot by Ekblad and the second went into an empty net to seal the victory during the final minute.
With the preseason now complete, the Panthers will fly home on Sunday and practice on Monday ahead of Opening Night against Boston on Tuesday.
Buckle up!
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