Mack Guzda made 27 saves for Florida while Kai Schwindt scored the Cats' lone goal
There was a bit of excitement on Friday night as the Florida Panthers were back on the ice for the first time since the Stanley Cup Final.
Sort of.
The Panthers top prospects kicked off their weekend at the 2023 Southeast Hockey Showcase with a battle against the Carolina Hurricanes at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.
It’s the first of three games for each team, with the others coming against the two teams also playing in the showcase, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators.
For the Panthers, the opening game was a bit of a struggle.
Carolina controlled play for the majority of the first two periods, with penalties playing a factor, and they took the victory over the Cats by a 4-1 score.
Florida’s first moment of excitement came when Mackie Samoskevich rung the post with about 11:35 left in the opening period. He came flying down the right wing, catching a Hurricanes defender flat footed and tried beating goaltender Yaniv Perets short side.
He’d beat the goalie but not the goalpost.
Florida’s first power play was granted off a play started by the strong forechecking by Skyler Brind’Amour, separating his man from the puck after it was dumped into the Hurricanes zone. Moments later, Canes forward Tag Bertuzzi went high with a hit on Florida center Wilmer Skoog, resulting in the minor penalty for roughing.
The man advantage would end without Florida recording a shot on goal though, keeping the game scoreless.
Carolina cashed in on a two-man advantage late in the first period following a too many men penalty and then cross-check by Cats defenseman Evan Nause while killing the penalty.
Panthers goaltender Mack Guzda was on the ice after making a couple saves from in tight, but a rebound tricked out the back side of the crease to Carolina’s Dominick Fensore, who crept down from the point and swatted the puck into an empty net.
Carolina made it 2-0 at the 5:46 mark of the second period on a play that started with the puck on the stick of Panthers defenseman Marek Alscher.
A strong check by Fensore separated Alscher from the puck. Fensore quickly a fed wide open Noel Gunler in the slot, who one-timed a shot that squeezed through Guzda's arm and body to put Carolina up 2-0 with just over 14 minutes left in the second period.
Carlina’s third goal was very similar to their second, it just came from the opposite side of Florida’s zone.
Winger Gabe Klassen took puck off Panthers defenseman Evan Nause along the boards with a big body check and quickly fed Justin Robidas, who was alone in the slot. A quick one-timer later and Florida was down by three.
Florida got on the board at the 16:07 mark of the second when Kai Schwindt corralled a puck off a faceoff win by Liam Arnsby and took a couple strides toward the middle of the ice before firing a wrist shot over the blocker of Jakub Vondras, who replaced Perets halfway through the period.
Guzda made his best save of the game early in the second with Carolina on the power play, stopping Blake Murray on the doorstep after sliding from one side of the crease to the other.
Murray kept whacking away at the puck though, and it eventually tricked over the goal line to put the Hurricanes up 4-1.
Cats defenseman Mike Benning got a great look from the side of Vondras’ crease while Florida was on a third period power play, but the 19-year-old goaltender made a highlight-reel save with his left pad.
Following the game, there was a five-round shootout that Carolina won 1-0 on a goal by Ryan Suzuki.
Shooting for Florida was (in order) Samoskevich, Ryan McAllister, Gracyn Sawchyn, Sandis Vilmanis and Justin Sourdif, but they were all stopped by Vondras (except Samoskevich, who hit the right post after trying to deke around the Czechian goaltender.
The Cats will be back in action on Saturday against Nashville. The puck drops at 6 p.m. in Estero.
