Takeaways from Panthers’ 2-0 loss to Wild

The Florida Panthers were back for another NHL season tonight in Saint Paul, opening the year on the road against the Minnesota Wild.

Despite having a plethora of chances with over 40 shots on goal tonight, the Panthers couldn’t find the back of the net. They were shutout by the Wild in a 2-0 loss.

Here’s some takeaways from tonight’s game.

Filip Gustavsson stood on his head for Minnesota

Florida was peppering the Wild net for pretty much the entirety of the game, nearly doubling Minnesota’s shot total by the end of the night.

The final shot total leaned heavily in Florida’s favor at 41-21, but that wasn’t reflected in the final score. 

Despite the onslaught of chances, Minnesota’s goaltender Filip Gustavsson slammed the door shut — stopping all 41 shots he faced.

Gustavsson faced a ton of shots tonight and stopped them all for the shutout. What was even more impressive was his rebound control. Florida didn’t have many second chance looks at goal because Gustavsson killed the play instantly. 

The Panthers were only shut out once all of last season. This year it happened in game number one.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich looked solid in his NHL debut

We’ve probably talked more about Mackie Samoskevich this preseason than anyone else on the Panthers’ roster — and for good reason. 

The 20-year-old was one of two Panthers to make their NHL debut tonight — Uvis Balinskis being the other. 

The rookie forward got up to NHL speed quickly, not looking out of place whatsoever on a line with Anton Lundell, and Sam Reinhart. 

Samoskevich had more than one quality chance tonight to score his first career NHL goal, with the best look off a shot that beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson before ringing off the crossbar. 

His speed, and puck carrying ability was extremely noticeable tonight — and his shot release is already looking elite. 

For his first game in the NHL, Samoskevich put together a quality performance, and showed flashes of what he can bring to this Panthers team. 

New Panthers fit in well in Game 1

I already mentioned Samoskevich and his fairly good first NHL game. However, he wasn’t the only Panther that looked comfortable in their first appearance with the team.

Florida had eight skaters in the lineup tonight who weren’t on the team last season. Of those eight, I thought Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL) looked like he’s been here for years.

OEL led all Panthers skaters in ice-time with 26:32 tonight. The defenseman was also in on the offense, getting four shots on goal. 

Tonight Ekman-Larsson, 32, played on the Panthers’ top power-play unit while also appearing on the penalty kill.

The Panthers will continue to rely upon Ekman-Larsson this season — especially with Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour out of the lineup for the start of the year.

OEL paired up with his fellow Swede Gustav Forsling tonight on the Panthers’ top d-line. Those two will easily eat up the most minutes on the blueline to start the season.

Looking at the forwards, Evan Rodrigues was another noticeable new face. 

Rodrigues played just under 20 minutes tonight, drawing in on the top power play unit and the Panthers’ first-line alongside Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. 

He had 5 shots on goal tonight, and was very active in the offensive zone. The pucks didn’t find the back of the net tonight, but the opportunities were there, and Rodrigues will continue to get those chances. 

He’s a fast, smart player, that fits in well with Florida’s play style.

Next Game

The Panthers will be back on the ice Saturday in Winnipeg for a 4 PM (ET) start against the Jets.