The Florida Panthers closed out the 2025-26 campaign by routing the Detroit Red WIngs by an 8-1 count in front of an appreciative crowd at Amerant Bank Arena.

Rookie Wilmer Skoog collected his first NHL point when he got to a loose puck along the boards and fed veteran Vinnie Hinostroza, who quickly fired the puck past John Gibson from just outside the right circle 4:57 into the tilt.

The Panthers doubled their lead at the 5:37 mark of the second when Marek Alscher sent the puck down low to Matthew Tkachuk and after losing the handle for a second, he dished to childhood buddy Luke Kunin for the forehand finish.

Florida only had one power-play chance during the game and they converted at 8:56. A.J. Greer got his own rebound and did the honors with a wrap-around goal that found pay dirt just inside the right post. The assists were credited to Noah Gregor and Ludvig Jansson, giving Jansson first NHL point.

The team’s gang of Checkers continued to shine as Mike Benning notched his first NHL goal 43 seconds later to put the Cats up by four. After Eetu Luostarinen put the puck in front, Skoog sent it back out high and Benning loaded up and blasted a shot that caught the glass and somehow found its way into the net off the back of a befuddled Gibson.

After scoring a flukey one, Benning’s second of the night was much easier on the eyes. Mackie Samoskevich pulled up to slow the rush and then dropped to Donovan Sebrango, who went cross-ice to Benning and he slammed the puck by reliever Cam Talbot, who thought Sebrango was going shoot, at 12:41.

Detroit finally dented Daniil Tarasov with 3:48 left in the frame when Justin Faulk whipped a wrister in after taking a crossing pass from Alex DeBrincat. The secondary assist went to former Panther Ben Chiarot.

The night of firsts continued 8:56 into the third when Alscher received a pass from partner Mikulas Hovorka and his subsequent shot from just above the right circle caught the shaft of Cole Schwindt’s stick. The assist gave Alscher his first-ever multi-point game and the second helper gave the 24-year-old Hovorka his first NHL point.

Cole Reinhardt extended his goal-scoring streak to four games when he gathered the rebound of a hard shot by Kunin and got it to go after the center was sent in on Talbot by Tkachuk. It took video review to confirm the puck completely crossed the line while it was in the air before it was knocked out of the cage by Lucas Raymond.

Kunin would bag his second of the game, off a centering feed from Reinhardt, with a wrister from between the circles with 1:48 left on the clock to complete the scoring onslaught that saw fifteen Panthers with at least one point. The goal got Kunin to the ten-point plateau.

Hats off to Florida’s injured-riddled lineup, which found a way to take the last three games to get the team to 40 wins on the season. This wasn’t the Stanley Cup-title defense we wanted or expected, but they played hard until the end and a lot of the spare parts and prospects got some much-needed playing time and showed well. The Panthers will be back next year and should contend for the franchise’s third title. Get some rest and get healthy, boys!

The Five Hole

First Star Mike Benning became the first rookie defenseman in franchise history to score two goals in the same period. Benning logged a game-high 21:34 of ice time and also blocked three shots.

Luke Kunin delivered both his first multi-goal and multi-point game with Florida. This was the first time Kunin had three points in a tilt since November 21, 2022, when was a member of the San Jose Sharks.

Mackie Samoskevich’s assist on Benning’s second marker was his 32nd point, establishing a new career-high. Samoskevich struggled to score as an NHL sophomore, but finished on a hot streak with six goals and three assists in the final ten games.

Matthew Tkachuk picked up a pair of helpers and finished the season with 34 points in 31 games played. Despite missing 51 tilts, Tkachuk was sixth on the team in scoring.

Daniil Tarasov (24 saves) closed out strong by winning his final three starts. The 27-year-old made a career-high 33 appearances and won a career-best 13 games in 2025-26.

Stat Card