Staal, a ‘history book,’ helping Luostarinen develop
Every shift is a lesson for Eetu Luostarinen, and especially every shift with the Florida Panthers’ top penalty-killing unit.
Any time the Panthers go on the penalty kill, Luostarinen is part of the first group on the ice. He works as hard as he can for anywhere from just a few seconds to a full minute and then speeds to the bench, where he sits down next to Eric Staal.
They’re an unlikely pairing to handle the two forward spots on Florida’s top penalty-kill unit — Luostarinen is 24, with only about a dozen games of first-line experience in his three seasons; Staal is 38 and a six-time All-Star with a shot to one day make the Hockey Hall of Fame — and yet their marriage has been a boon both for Florida and its young Finnish forward.
“They come off the ice and they talk about what happened, so he kind of gets to read a history book,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He gets all that information from Eric, and Eric is an intense man.”
With those two at the top of their kill, the Panthers entered Saturday evening’s home game against Colorado having killed off 11 straight penalties since Staal returned from an upper-body injury last month.
On Thursday, they helped Florida seal its 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks by turning four minutes of short-handed action in the final five minutes of regulation into two empty-net goals for Staal, blowing open a one-goal game.
Even apart from Staal, Luostarinen is growing, too. He filled in for Aleksander Barkov as the Panthers’ top-line center Thursday, and the line still contributed both of Florida’s even-strength goals.
Luostarinen finished with two assists, two takeaways and one blocked shot, and went 5 of 9 on faceoffs. He was on the ice for three of the Panthers’ goals and none of the Sharks’ despite playing 3:58 short-handed.
“I know that the coaches can trust me to put me on the first line and play those minutes,” he said.
Florida placed a fair amount of trust in Luostarinen across his first two seasons in Sunrise, particularly because of his defensive ability. He was one of the Panthers’ top three forwards in short-handed time on ice in each of the past two years, carving out an unquestioned role among Florida’s bottomsix forwards.
Buried behind Barkov and fellow center Sam Bennett on the depth chart, Luostarinen still mostly plays in the bottom six, although now he might be overqualified for it, as evidenced by his play with the top line Thursday.
He’s in the middle of his best offensive season yet — his 11 goals entering Saturday were already a career high and he was only one point away from matching his career best — and turning the intelligence teammates and coaches rave about into a weapon.
His first assist against San Jose was one of the better offensive plays he has ever made. Luostarinen fielded a crossing pass right around the right faceoff circle and spotted fellow forward Sam Reinhart in the middle of the ice. As he started to fall, Luostarinen whipped a centering pass to Reinhart, who deflected the puck through Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen’s legs for the game-winning goal.
“I was kind of going over to support him on the wall,” Reinhart said Thursday. “I thought he had missed it and then made a heck of a play to get it to me in front.”
It was a good bit of situational awareness from Luostarinen, who realized Florida had a numbers advantage in transition and knew someone would be going to the net.
“You’re trying to think about the next play,” said forward Anton Lundell, explaining how Luostarinen’s intelligence manifests itself on the ice.
“You always try to be one step ahead and then you know where guys are going. You know when you get the puck where you’re going to move it. It’s not any hesitation.
You make the right play at the right moment.”
Maybe the best sign for
Luostarinen, though, was how he responded when his responsibility expanded in the final two periods Thursday.
The Panthers trailed at the first intermission and couldn’t manage any offense in the period, so Maurice changed his matchups, asking Luostarinen and Co. to go up against San Jose’s top line after he trusted Bennett, left wing Carter Verhaeghe and All-Star right wing Matthew Tkachuk to do it in the first.
Florida closed the game with four straight goals and the two even-strength goals both came against the Sharks’ first line.
“The shift in the game for me is Luostarinen’s ability to go out and play against the other team’s best, which is really what he’s going to be trained to do,” Maurice said. “As he matures and his faceoffs improve, he’s just going to get stronger and faster, but, at a young age, his reads are excellent.”
PANTHERS EXTEND JOSH MAHURA
Defenseman Josh Mahura was one of Florida’s best offseason additions, being plucked off waivers after the Anaheim Ducks cut him and immediately becoming a fixture of its everyday lineup.
Now, the Panthers are making sure he’ll stick around for at least one more season.
Florida signed Mahura to a one-year, $925,000 extension Friday. He was set to be a restricted free agent in the offseason. The 24-year-old Canadian has career highs this year with four goals, seven assists and 11 points in 54 games.
David Wilson: 305-376-3406, @DBWilson2