Florida goaltender Ludovic Waeber finished with 38 saves
It was a bounce-back kind of day for the Florida Panthers prospects taking part in the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase.
Following Friday’s opening game, a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida came out on Saturday against the Nashville Predators with a clear goal in mind – lay the wood.
Josh Davies looked to set a physical tone for the Panthers early in the game, lighting up Nashville forward Joakim Kemell and sending him over the boards and into the Preds bench.
Moments later Nashville jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Nashville winger Luke Evangelista jumped on a loose puck behind the net and fed Kevin Wall at the side of the net for a quick shot that snuck past Ludovic Waeber.
For Weaber, the game was his first in North America, having played the entirety of his pro career overseas until signing with Florida over the summer.
Skylar Brind’Amour took an offensive zone hooking penalty midway through the first period but Waeber came up with a couple nice saves to keep the score at 1-0, showing off his lateral movement to stop Nashville winger Luke Evangelista with a sprawling right pad save.
The Panthers hit a pair of goal posts, one by Kai Schwindt and another by Ryan McAllister while Florida was on its first power play of the game, but they couldn’t cash in.
That wouldn’t be the case for the second power play. Right off the draw, the puck found its way to Santtu Kinnunen at the left point.
He walked into the top of the circle and wried a heavy wrist shot that was deflected by Davies in front of the net, over the blocker of Preds goalie Gustavs Grigals, to the game at one.
Waeber continued to stand tall in the second, setting the tone with a breakaway stop on Evangelista in the opening minute.
The teams would trade hits and power plays for much of the period, but the tie score would finally get cracked when Justin Sourdif drew an interference call with just over six minutes to go.
Florida would connect right off the draw, with the puck finding its way from Mike Benning to Ryan McAllister along the left wing boards. He took a couple quick strides into the faceoff circle and beat Grigals over the blocker to give Florida a 2-1 lead.
Sandis Vilmanis made it 3-1 Panthers in the opening seconds of the third period, picking up the puck with speed in the neutral zone and cutting through their defense like butter before sending a sneaky backhand past the glove of Grigals.
With Justin Sourdif in the penalty box for slashing, Nashville cut Florida’s lead in half nearly midway through the period.
Preds defenseman Tanner Molendyk walked the puck along the blue line before finding a shooting lane and sending a wrister with eyes through a screened Waeber.
Florida regained its two-goal lead a couple minute later when Rilkey Bezeau walked down the right wing boards and beat Grigals between the body and shortside goal post with around six minutes to go.
That’s how the game would end, with Nashville failing to solve Waeber. He finished with 38 saves in the win.
Following the game there was another five-round shootout, which Nashville took 2-0 on goals by Navrin Mutter and Zachary L’Heureux. Both shots beat Waeber between the legs.
Shooting for Florida (in order) was Mike Benning, Ryan McAllister, Wilmer Skoog, Gracyn Sawchyn and Sandis Vilmanis.
