Olympics: Florida Panthers Prelim Recap Days 2-4

It was an eventful couple of days for the Panthers as the rest of the Cats hit the ice for their first games while Finland and Sweden played their second match. Matthew Tkachuk had a great game for Team USA, Uvis Balinskis played a solid game for Team Latvia, Vilmanis was serviceable in his first Olympic match, and Brad Marchand, with the two Sams in tow, had good games for Team Canada. Finland rebounded from their loss to Slovakia with a win over rival Sweden on the back of outstanding showings from Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Mikkola had a good match for Finland, and Forsling was as good as ever.  

Days 2 & 3

Team USA/Team Latvia:

It’s so refreshing to get to see a healthy Matthew Tkachuk back on the ice. It’s something fans haven’t gotten to see much of since Tkachuk broke his sternum during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, but boy is it special. It seems fitting that one of the Tkachuks would open the scoring for the Americans, and while it was Brady that scored the goal, Matthew had a nifty little pass to his brother, who was skating hard into the slot. Tkachuk was also part of the crisp passing play that allowed Brock Nelson to score, which gave Matthew his second assist of the night, this one a secondary assist.

Not as close as the score indicates, the first period led to a dominating performance by Team USA the rest of the way. Two disallowed goals in the opening twenty minutes resulted in four goals in the final forty for a 5-1 win for the Americans. Uvis Balinskis led his team in TOI at 24:13 with 2 shots on goal. He played a pretty good game, but Team Latvia was simply outmatched by Team USA in this one. There are winnable games the rest of the way in this pool for Latvia as they’ll face Germany and Denmark over the weekend. Sandis was serviceable in his 15:40 TOI, albeit a bit quiet. He didn’t pull the eye negatively or positively, which could be a good thing for the young player, but hopefully, he finds another gear to his game. It’s been a big talking point heading into this match about the hit Vilmanis laid on McAvoy just a week ago. The two players did get photographed together as they shook hands by fans in attendance. So they’ve either buried the hatchet or the next Boston/Florida game is going to be explosive. 

Team Canada:

The Sam’s Club and Marchy hit the ice with Team Canada as they took on Czechia. The trio saw limited ice time, with only Reinhart playing just over 10 minutes; the other two were under 10. Marchand did record an assist on the Bo Horvat goal, which put Canada up 3-0 in the second period. Reinhart & Bennett each had 1 SOG while Marchand had 2. At least Cooper seems to have learned from the 4 Nations Tournament and isn’t trying to play Samson on the left, which is his weak side. Fans did get to see an all-Panther line for a little bit, which was nice. Overall, not much to report from this match as the Panthers’ players didn’t do a lot of heavy lifting. They played well and did their jobs with Canada walking away with a 5-0 win over Czechia. Marchand didn’t play in game 2 against Switzerland; instead, Seth Jarvis drew in. Bennett played roughly three more minutes in the second game than he did in the first. He managed to draw the ire of Swiss fans when he threw a hit that didn’t get called. Reinhart also had a bit more ice time, logging just under 13 and a half minutes compared to 10 minutes in game 1. The Canadians have had most of their scoring coming from the top 6 in their first two games. We’ll see if the bottom 6 is able to get on the scoreboard in the next two games.  

Team Finland/Team Sweden:

Nothing like a rivalry game to kick things off on Friday. Unsurprisingly, it was a penalty fest as things got heated between the Finns and the Swedes. Lundell and Luostarinen both had an increased role and were 1-2 in TOI to lead the team. Anton scored his first career Olympic goal to give Finland a 2-0 lead over Sweden heading into the second period. Ironically, all of Florida’s players were on the ice for his goal, including Forsling for the Swedes. Lundell’s goal was assisted by Luostarinen and Mikkola for an all-Panther showing. Mikkola shot the puck, and Luostarinen then picked up the rebound. Eetu worked his way around Forsling to get the puck back towards the net, and Lundell had the finish at the net front. After the game, Anton said, “It’s a cool moment, but we’re here to win [it all].” Of the main Finnish faceoff takers, Anton had the best day, going 12-10 for a FO% of 54.55. Lundell’s other standout moment came at the other end of the ice, where he saved a Swedish goal by clearing a puck that was on the goal line. A big scrum in the second period sent 3 Swedes and 3 Finns to the box, including Mikkola, although that’s not surprising. Niko stayed consistent with 2 SOG just like game 1. Luostarinen continued his strong play, and his pairing with Lundell is as strong as ever. Forsling played his strong defensive game. I’m sure his battle with Luostarinen felt a bit like a Panthers practice. He logged just under 20 minutes for Sweden; the only defenseman who played more was his d-partner Dahlin. 

Day 4

Team Sweden:

The Group B chaos continued during the Sweden/Slovakia game. While Sweden walked away with the win, because Slovakia scored a goal within the final minute, the goal differential tie-breaker favors them. Forsling’s stat sheet might’ve been bare, but he still was one of the leading TOI players with just over 20 minutes. Gustav’s stick work and shot blocking were excellent as he faced off against Slafkovsky’s line often. Unfortunately, with the late goal, Slovakia wins the pool. With Finland getting the regulation win over Italy, Sweden falls to third in the Pool B standings and will likely be on a collision course with either Team USA or Team Canada in the quarter finals. 

Team Latvia:

Latvia had a huge bounce-back win over Germany after they lost to the USA in their opening game. This was Latvia’s first win at the Olympics in 12 years. Uvis Balinskis recorded his first Olympic point with a secondary assist to Dans Locmelis’ power-play goal in the second period. Uvis had one shot on goal in the third period and led his team in TOI at 24:09. Balinskis, Vilmanis, and the Latvians did an admirable job keeping Draisaitl in check as much as possible, limiting him to just 1 point, an assist; although he did have 10 SOG. I think that Uvis’s increased role with the Panthers has helped him at the Olympics, where he’s playing top minutes against the best of the best. Likewise, his experience at the Olympics will help him when he returns to the Panthers. If Jones isn’t back, then he’ll still be playing with Mikkola and running the power-play. Vilmanis recorded 2 SOG and played 18:10. For a young player, he hasn’t looked out of place in Latvia’s lineup, especially given his limited NHL experience this year.

Team Finland:

It was a big day for the Finns as they blew out Italy in their final game of pool play. Unfortunately, Anton Lundell didn’t play due to illness, so his line was centered by Granlund. In the most lopsided game since 1988, Finland took that 11-0 win over Italy to round out pool play and set Olympic records for most goals (11) & shots (62) in a single game. They ran up the score because goal differential is the first tie breaker. Eetu Luostarinen had a two-assist day on the second Kaapo Kakko goal and the second Granlund goal; Eetu had 1 SOG and was +3. Mikkola put up two assists on the first Kakko goal and the first Kiviranta goal; he posted 4 SOG and was +5. Mikkola logged the second most ice time out of the team at 20:36 and was one of only three players to play over 20 minutes. Luostarinen only played 13:23, but they didn’t need to run him into the ground in this match. Eetu did have a fantastic scoring chance, but he unfortunately just didn’t find the back of the net. Despite opening the Olympics with a loss, the Finns seem to have found their footing heading into the next round of matches. 

Team USA:

Six different players found the back of the net for Team USA in a gritty game against Dennmark. The Americans depth overmatched the Danish, although they did put up a valiant fight and even had the lead after the first period. The B.Tkachuk-Eichel-M.Tkachuk line is proving why they’re the top line for Team USA as they combined for 2 goals, 2 assists on the day, and 12 SOG. Matthew logged 16:16 TOI and assisted on Jack Eichel’s goal. Surprisingly, M. Tkachuk has managed to stay out of the penalty box so far at the Olympics, something that’s commonplace when he’s playing for the Panthers. With goal differential being the tie-breaker, it’s looking likely at the moment that the US could see Sweden in the quarterfinals as Canada has a +2 advantage over the Americans with 1 more game each to play. 

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