Olympics: Florida Panthers Medal Round Recap

Team Canada:

While one Panther enjoyed elation, at the other end of the ice was heartbreak for three Cats. Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, and Brad Marchand represented Team Canada and fell to the Americans in overtime. While a silver medal is nothing to scoff at, it probably feels like the worst one to win because you have to lose a game in order to earn it. Canada played a great game and generated more offense than the USA did. However, the American defense and goaltending proved superior in this matchup. I’m sure that if the US had scored on the double minor power play caused by Sam Bennett’s high stick, he probably would never hear the end of it. Unfortunately, there’s not much to report on for the Panthers, who played for Canada. HC Jon Cooper chose to limit their ice time, but especially Reinhart, which is a bit shocking. Marchand played a touch over 10 minutes, Bennet played roughly 11:30 minutes, and Reinhart only played 6:57. Unless Reinhart returns to the Panthers and it comes out that he’s sick or injured, I simply don’t have an explanation for Cooper reducing Reinhart’s role to a glorified power play specialist. Samson averaged the least amount of minutes out of any Canadian forward for the tournament and played as either a 4th line player or the extra forward. And there’s nothing wrong with those roles, but it doesn’t make much sense when Reinhart was a top 6 forward for Canada just a year ago at Four Nations with roughly the same roster and one of the first six players named to the team. Sam isn’t even having a down season for Florida; he’s got 55 points in 57 games. For Bennett and Marchand, it isn’t surprising that they’d be playing down the lineup since that was what they did for Canada at Four Nations. The three of them come back with silver medals and a bit of heartbreak. Hopefully, they’ll still look back on this Olympic journey with pride in how they played and represented their country. Reinhart, Bennett, and Marchand join Olli Jokinen as Panthers who’ve earned a silver medal at the Olympics. 

Team Finland:

A rematch against the Slovaks and a chance at revenge with a bronze medal on the line. After their first game against Slovakia in the tournament, Finland found their game and played excellently from then on. There’s some disappointment in not getting to defend their gold medal after they lost to Canada in the semifinals, but they bounced back against Slovakia. Luostarinen, Lundell, and Mikkola contributed to a 6-1 win over the Slovaks to bring home the bronze medal. Even though they didn’t find the score sheet, they played a great game and contributed to the strong team defense. There was only 1 forward who played more minutes than Lundell, which was Sebastian Aho; Lundell played 18:44, Aho played 20:01. Anton also had a good day in the faceoff dot with a 54.55 FO% and went 6-5. All three Panthers put up 2 SOG in the game, and Mikkola & Lundell were both +2; Luostarinen was an even 0. It was a successful tournament for the Finns; Lundell scored his first Olympic goal, and Luostarinen put up 4 assists. Luostarinen, Lundell, and Mikkola join Eas Tikkanen, Pavel Bure, Valeri Bure, Rostislav Olesz, and Aleksander Barkov as Panthers who’ve earned Olympic bronze medals. 

• Florida Panthers in the Four Nations Faceoff: Preview
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• Olympics: Late Game Heroics Boost Finland To The Semifinals
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