The Florida Panthers finished up its five-game road trip with a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena to get back to NHL .500.
An ad hoc line consisting of Eetu Luostarinen, Mackie Samoskevich and A.J. Greer combined for eight points in the win.
Luostarinen opned the scoring just twenty-three seconds into the tilt when he blindly drove4 the rebound of Samsokevich’s miss, that caromed off the end boards, through the legs of Joseph Woll.
After receiving a crisp outlet pass from Donovan Sebrango, Cole Reinhardt forced his way to the net and stuffed the puck home to put the Cats up by two at the 5:32 mark. The secondary assist on the goal went to Vinnie Hinostroza.
Tomas Nosek took a pass from rookie Mark Alscher after the rookie defenseman made a good step-up, moved into a better shooting position and sent the puck by Woll through a screen for his first of the season 1:32 into the second. Alscher, playing in his second big-league game, earned his first-ever NHL point.
William Nylander would strike twice in a 2:21 span to pull the Maple Leafs within one.
His first came at 10:55 after Daniil Tarasov made a stop on Easton Cowan and the shorthanded Panthers couldn’t clear the puck out off harm’s way. Nylander collected and ripped a shot from between the circle’s that Tarasov’s glove could not seize. John Taraves got a piece of the puck after Tarasov initial save to get the primary helper.
Nylander stole the puck from Hinostroza and beat Tarasov unassisted with a snap-shot from the shot for his 28th of the season.
Samoskevich would deliver the dagger 4:13 into final frame. After Luostarinen sent his linemates into the Toronto zone with an aerial pass, Samoskevich one-timed a return feed from Greer to give the Cats some breathing room back.
Luostarinen and Samoskevich would assist on Greer’s empty-netter at 15:56 after the Buds pulled Woll early, and then Nosek got his second of the night, with Woll again off for an extra-attacker, at 18:07 from Noah Gregor to complete the scoring.
With Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe getting the night off, the trio of Samoskevich (1G/2A), Luostarinen (1G/2A) and Greer (1G/1A) provided the offensive spark and a solid Tarasov 17 saves) denied everyone not named Nylander to end Florida’s four-game slide. The Cats will head south to finish the disappointing 2025-26 campaign at Amerant Bank Arena with games against the New York Rangers on Monday and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
The Five Hole
Mackie Samoskevich earned First Star honors for the first three-point performance of his young career. With five goals and two assists in his last eight games, Samoskevich’s made a late push to post his second-straight 30-point season.
A.J. Greer’s primary assist on Samsokevich’s clincher got the 29-year-old to 30 points for the first time in the NHL. Greer has career-highs in goals (16), assists (15) and plus-minus (+13) this year.
Eetu Luostarinen’s three-point night pushed him past both the 20-assist and 30-point plateau for the second time in his career. Luostarinen has a three-game point streak cooking.
Tomas Nosek scored for the first time since November 7, 2025. His empty-netter gave him his first brace since October 4, 2019, when he potted two against the San Jose Sharks.
Wilmer Skoog made his NHL debut and logged 15:49 of ice time. Skoog registered two shots, two hits and three blocks and helped screen Joseph Woll on Nosek’s first marker.
Stat Card
