The line of Bennett, Tkachuk and Cousins combined for six points
It was déjà vu all over again for the Florida Panthers on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
For the second time in the span of just a few hours, Florida jumped all over the visiting Nashville Predators, taking game two of the teams’ preseason doubleheader by a 5-2 score.
The Cats shut out the Preds 5-0 in the earlier matinee.
It was an impressive debut for a Panthers team that had been put through an extremely tough and physically demanding four days of training camp for the second straight year.
After reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season, the team led by head coach Paul Maurice know what they are capable of when putting fourth maximum effort.
That’s exactly what the Panthers have done all week, and instead of showing the effects of it on Monday, they reaped the benefits.
For THN’s recap and analysis of game one, click here.
Here are some thoughts and observations from the second game:
Sergei Bobrovsky looked sharp in goal, picking up where he left off late last season. That includes his issues with rebound control.
Rookie Gracyn Sawchyn did not appear overwhelmed one bit, showing poise with the puck on his stick and making several nice plays in tight spaces.
Justin Sourdif is very fast and shows no fear going to the net or the middle of the ice. He also doesn’t seem to be getting lost in the mix when playing at the next level.
Sam Bennett has looked great during training camp and this game was a continuation of that.
Bennett’s line with Matthew Tkachuk and Nick Cousins was consistently creating opportunities for Florida in the Predators zone, causing mayhem in the between the circles and below the goal line, leading to all kinds of scoring chances.
Niko Mikkola showed up offensively more than once, picking the correct moments to jump into the play. It’s unusual to see a man that big move with that kind of grace and ease.
Smart, responsible defending from Josh Mahura continues to be a reliable trait from the young defenseman.
Dmitry Kulikov was strong defensively. There were a few instances of tying up his man in front of Florida’s net that stand out. He also scored two goals and overall was active and impacting the game positively.
Like in the first game, Florida’s top power play unit utilized four forwards. This time it was Tkachuk, Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Kevin Stenlund with Santtu Kinnunen working the point.
Rookie Luke Coughlin had a tough night, highlighted by a pair of blunders at the Panthers blue line during the second period that immediately led to Nashville breakaways. Both were stopped by Bobrovsky.
