The Panthers split their exhibition season doubleheader with the Nashville Predators on Sunday. They fell 5-2 to Nashville in the afternoon session but the evening belonged to the Panthers, who won 3-2 in a 3-on-3 overtime, with key goals coming from Aleksander Barkov (:42s) and Mike Matheson (1:08s) (swoon).
Tonight, the Panthers bring it back to Sunrise for the first home game since April 11th. Let us give a big welcome back to South Florida, live hockey!
The One Timer
Below are the rosters for tonight’s game, courtesy of the Sun Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov:
Stars roster tonight #stars pic.twitter.com/eLLBchefuT
— Harvey Fialkov (@hfialkov) September 22, 2015
Panthers lineup #flapanthers pic.twitter.com/PFKrUppQFz
— Harvey Fialkov (@hfialkov) September 22, 2015
First, it is not a big shock to see Barkov, Huberdeau, and Jagr in the lineup for the Panthers. This is the first game back and those three forwards are easily the team’s most popular. You got to have a crowd pleaser and it doesn’t get much better than those three.
It is worthy to note that many of Nick Bjugstad’s usual suitors on wing (i.e. Jussi Jokinen, Brandon Pirri, Vincent Trocheck, etc.) are not dressed for this game. It will be interesting to see if someone like Lawson Crouse or Rocco Grimaldi sees time on the wing with Big Nick. This writer would especially like to see Crouse get sometime to exhibit his unique combination of smarts and size, which we covered so elegantly in the Rookie Camp edition of PodCats (You should totally listen to it if you have not already).
Another noteworthy observation of the Panthers roster is the omission of Aaron Ekblad and the inclusion of Mike Matheson. The two were paired together in Nashville for their doubleheader game, after Matheson’s superb showing at rookie camp. Matheson will have to pair with someone else tonight. Will it be his idol, Brian Campbell? That would be treat for him and fans alike. The Stars may or may not disagree.
Also, according to George Richards, we will see Roberto Luongo tonight:
Roberto Luongo will likely get two periods for #FlaPanthers v #nhlStars … McKenna the third. https://t.co/prgZqSJzvk
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) September 21, 2015
As for the Stars, we will see Tyler Seguin, and a few other regulars, but certainly not a potent lineup filled with matchups we might recognize.
Closing Thoughts
It’s great to have live hockey back in South Florida. The game is not being broadcast, but several Sunshine Skate staffers will be in attendance, so follow our Twitter (@SunshineSkateFL), and our staff accounts for updates and insight.
AJ can be reached for contact on Twitter.
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