After scoring game-winner, an ‘under-the-radar’ Panthers rookie wants to keep impressing

The Florida Panthers’ two-goal lead had disappeared minutes into the third period on opening night. Momentum was shifting from them as the Chicago Blackhawks took advantage of a power play midway through the second period and a 4-on-4 situation at the start of the third. Panthers coach Joel Quenneville knew his team needed a spark — and needed one quickly — before the game got out of hand.

Enter Eetu Luostarinen, a 22-year-old rookie playing his first game with the Panthers and just the ninth game at the NHL level in his career. Twenty-two seconds after the Blackhawks tied the score, Luostarinen gave the Panthers the lead back for good. He took a feed in the slot from Carter Verhaeghe, who skated down the left boards and into the offensive zone, and sniped a head-on snap shot past Blackhawks goaltender Collin Delia.

Verhaeghe, Anton Stralman and Gustav Forsling rushed behind the net to celebrate with Luostarinen before the rookie made his way back to the bench to soak in the moment with the rest of his teammates.

It was the first goal of Luostarinen’s NHL career and a pivotal one at that. The goal was the first of three for the Panthers in the final period to pull away for a 5-2 win over the Blackhawks at the BB&T Center and was the latest moment of growth for one of the Panthers’ up-and-coming forwards.

“I love his game,” Quenneville said. “I think he does a lot of good things. I think he’s got some creativity to his game. The puck follows him around a bit. The goal and the timing of it kind of gives you an illustration of an under-the-radar type of player that can help our team and be useful in all situations.”

Luostarinen definitely came into training camp as an under-the-radar prospect. He was going to compete to be a center on one of the Panthers’ bottom two forward lines.

He impressed almost from the start. Luostarinen came into camp fresh after playing with KalPa, his youth team Finland, through late November before coming back to South Florida for training camp. He scored a goal and added two assists in the Panthers’ first intrasquad scrimmage to more or less cement his spot on the roster.

Luostarinen entered the season as the Panthers’ third-line center, working primarily with veteran winger Frank Vatrano to his left and fellow rookie Owen Tippett to his right.

“I think that was a huge deal for me,” Luostarinen said of his offseason playing time in Finland. “It kept going.”

And he made his mark Sunday. In addition to his game-winning goal, Luostarinen recorded an assist on Keith Yandle’s second-period goal that gave Florida an early 2-0 lead.

“I felt good out there,” Luostarinen said. “I think that’s a huge win for us. ... Two points, that’s how we want it.”

This and that

▪ Quenneviille said Sergei Bobrovsky will be the starting goaltender on Tuesday to close out the two-game home set against the Blackhawks. Bobrovsky only had three days of practice with the team before the season opener while being deemed “Unfit to Play” to start training camp. Quenneville wanted to be cautious with Bobrovsky’s progression as he returned to the ice. Chris Driedger started in net on Sunday, stopping 23 of 25 shots that came his way.

“When you’re ready, you’re ready,” Quenneville said of Bobrovsky. “... He’s more than ready to go.”

▪ Asked if there could be any lineup changes on Tuesday, Quenneville simply responded: “There could be.”

▪ Defensemen Noah Juulsen, claimed off waivers Tuesday, made his first practice appearance on Monday.

▪ The Panthers primarily ran special teams drills during their 30-minute workout on Monday. One notable observation: Defenseman Anton Stralman ran the second power play unit with Alex Wennberg, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe and Frank Vatrano. Gustav Forsling was the defenseman with that group during the final days of training camp and in Sunday’s season opener.