Ryan McAllister, Sandis Vilmanis and Ludovic Waeber spoke after Florida's rookie showcase win over the Predators
The Florida Panthers bounced back nicely on Saturday night in their second of three games at the Southeast Rookie Showcase in Estero.
Facing the Nashville Predators, Florida came flying out of the gate and were looking to set a physical tone from the get-go.
In addition to bringing the muscle, the Panthers also got an excellent effort in goal from Ludovic Waeber, who made 38 saves in Florida’s 4-2 win.
The four goals came from Josh Davies, Ryan McAllister, Sandis Vilmanis and Riley Bezeau, but it was the tally by Vilmanis that brought the fans out of their seats.
After picking up the puck in the neutral zone, he turned on the jets and split two Nashville defenders before sending a backhand past Nashville goaltender Gustavs Grigals.
Following the victory, several of the Panthers prospects spoke about the night, the effort and what it meant for the team.
Ryan McAllister:
“I think it was a really good team win. I like those two fights from (Riley Bezeau) and (Josh) Davies, they really got us going there. We stuck to the systems and ended up getting some power play goals, so it was nice.”
Sandis Vilmanis on his goal:
“We got the puck off the faceoff and (Skyler) Brind’Amour passed it to me. I saw two guys splitting up and the guy committing on our wing guy, and I saw the opening and just went for it.”
Ludovic Waeber:
“With the bad start, I had a couple mistakes in the beginning, it was good just to stay focused and try to help as much as I could to stay even with the score, and the guys in front helped me throughout the whole game.”