Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images
Oct 24, 2026 9:49 PM
After back-to-back blowout losses, Paul Maurice shakes up his roster by elevating Sandis Vilmanis and reuniting veteran defenders to spark a turnaround against the Blackhawks.
The Florida Panthers had some new-look forward lines when they took the ice on Saturday in Chicago.
Fresh off a pair of lopsided defeats in Ottawa and Pittsburgh, the Panthers will be looking to get back on track when they face the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon at United Center.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice was not pleased with his players following the back-to-back losses and said he would be looking for a way to turn things back around ahead of Saturday’s skate.
“I think it looked the way I thought it did from the bench,” Maurice said. “We’ve got some things we’ve got to clean up in our game and we have an opportunity to do that tomorrow.”
When the team took the ice, it was apparent that Maurice had done some tinkering with the forward groupings.
The top line and the fourth line remained the same, but Maurice made a not-so-subtle move to his middle six.
Exciting young forward Sandis Vilmanis was bumped up to the second line, where he skated alongside Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.
Vilmanis was a healthy scratch on Thursday.
“It’s just a little different look,” Maurice said. “When he was with Lundell and Luostarinen, I liked it early on but it’s starting to fall off a bit for me. We gave him a little bit of a reset, so he should have some good legs and good urgency in this game.”
Dependable forward Lars Eller, who Maurice has complimented several times during the early stages of the season, was on the left side of the Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen line.
In terms of defensive pairings, Radko Gudas was back with Dmitry Kulikov after being a healthy scratch during Thursday’s loss to the Penguins.
That was the only change on the blue line, as the top two pairings remained intact.
Between the pipes, Florida will turn back to Akira Schmid after giving rookie Cooper Black his first taste of NHL action on Thursday.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s showdown in Chitown:
Brady Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Reinhart – Sandis Vilmanis
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Lars Eller
Boko Imama – Cole Schwindt – Garnet Hathaway
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Radko Gudas
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Photo caption: Jan 10, 2026; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers left wingSandisVilmanis(95) chases the puck in the first period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. (Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images)
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