TAMPA – The Florida Panthers officially start to ramp up for the regular season when they face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.
After leaning on mostly prospects during the first five games of the preseason, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions will now deploy mostly veterans for the final two exhibitions.
Tonight, their lineup will be essentially what fans could see in the season opener on Oct. 7.
“This will be the lineup that if we were starting today, it’d be,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’ll make adjustments to Saturday night’s game [against the Lightning in Sunrise]. … This is a little different this year. All the guys from last year, all the veterans, are only going to get two exhibition games, but this is the way it’s going to be going forward.”
For many of Florida’s veterans, this will be the first time they’ve played in a competitive game since beating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in June.
Even in the absence of injured forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Tomas Nosek, the Panthers will still be rolling into Tampa Bay with four formidable forward lines.
Sam Bennett is centering Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell is in the middle of Brad Machand and Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues is flanked by Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich, and Luke Kunin is in between Jonah Gadjovich and A.J. Greer.
The only newcomer of the bunch, Kunin has looked very comfortable in camp.
“It’s been awesome,” said Kunin, a veteran of 434 career NHL games who signed a one-year contract with Florida in August. “You hear nothing but great things. Being here and seeing it first-hand, it’s every day getting more comfortable. The guys are awesome. The staff is awesome. It’s done the right way here. Looking forward to see a few more games here.”
Making headlines before hitting the ice, the Panthers announced this morning they’ve signed defenseman Niko Mikkola to an eight-year extension that runs through 2033-34.
With one year remaining on his current deal, Mikkola, 29, is coming off a breakout season in which he produced new career-highs in goals (6), assists (16) and points (22). One of the most reliable defenders in the NHL, he also registered 137 hits and 88 blocked shots.
In 22 playoff games last year, he logged six points (3G, 3A) while averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game, including two minutes per contest on the penalty kill.
"You love those guys because they're part of the fabric of your group,” Maurice said. “They do all the hard things. Sometimes in that role, because you've got to take care of your top-end guys, they get missed or you lose them. Did not want to see him go to free agency."
Locking up their core, the Panthers now have 11 players signed through at least 2029-30.
"Saw all the boys signing here, so it was a no-brainer,” Mikkola said.
Between the pipes, the Panthers will go with Daniil Tarasov in net.
Joining the Panthers on a one-year contract this summer, Tarasov, who is expected to backup Sergei Bobrovsky this season, stopped 47 of 49 shots in his previous outing to help lead the Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 24.
“I like the way he moves in the net and his ability to stay on a puck,” Maurice said.
Across the ice, the Lightning had many of their regulars participate in their skate this morning.
Per reports coming from the team’s local reporters, Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Gage Concalves were among the skaters.
Andrei Vasilevskiy will not get the start, but will likely play in the preseason finale on Saturday in Sunrise.
Tampa Bay’s full lineup won’t be known until closer to puck drop.
Enjoying some good exhibitions, the Lightning are currently undefeated in the preseason.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Evan Rodrigues – Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer – Luke Kunin – Jonah Gadjovich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Jeff Petry
Goaltenders
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Benchmark International Arena – Tampa, FL
TV: WSFL, WHDT, WFTX, PanthersPlus.TV
Radio: N/A
