Vilmanis Scores First NHL Goal, Panthers Fall to Mammoth

SUNRISE, Fla. — On Tuesday night, the Florida Panthers were back on home-ice at Amerant Bank Arena for just the third time in January. After going perfect on a three-game, Western Conference road trip last week, Florida looked to extend their win streak to four with the Utah Mammoth in town.

The Mammoth came out on top in a close contest, defeating the Panthers 4-3, with an empty net goal from Barrett Hayton being the difference.

Florida fell to 28-21-3 in the loss. They are 6-3-0 in their past nine games.

Nick Schmaltz got the Mammoth on the board first, putting away a short-handed goal 15:46 into the opening period.

Former Panther Kevin Stenlund created a turnover at the Mammoth line by pressuring Uvis Balinskis on a zone-entry attempt. Schmaltz picked up the loose puck and flew past Florida’s back-checkers before roofing his 19th goal of the season up-and-over Sergei Bobrovsky for a 1-0 Mammoth lead.

Playing in just his ninth career game, Panthers forward Sandis Vilmanis scored his first NHL goal to tie the game at 1-1.

After starting the game on the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, Vilmanis began the second period on Florida’s fourth line with AJ Greer and Cole Schwindt.

Head coach Paul Maurice should feel good about his early line switch as Vilmanis scored on his first shift with the new line, 2:52 into the middle frame.

”Every goal is nice to score, especially if it’s your first one in the NHL,” Vilmanis said. “Big thanks to the guys, they worked their asses off for me there.”

Vilmanis will never forget his first NHL goal, nor the reaction from the Florida crowd PA announcer Andrew Imber announced the career milestone.

But the buzz in the building quickly vanished as the Mammoth retook the lead 54 seconds after they lost it.

A few quick net-front passes by the Mammoth caught Bobrovsky out of position and away from his crease. Without a goaltender challenging him, Sean Durzi had no trouble putting away his fourth goal of the season for a 2-1 Utah lead.

A few shifts removed from their first goal of the night, Florida’s fourth line came back hungry for more.

Cole Schwindt fired in a slot-shot under Vitek Vanecek’s glove 9:55 into the second for his third goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2.

In the third period, Mikhail Sergachev gave the Mammoth their third lead of the night after he tipped in Sean Durzi’s point-shot for his eighth goal of the season with 8:55 to play in regulation.

In the final six minutes of the game, Florida was called twice for an embellishment penalties, negating two possible power-play opportunities.

“I’m not giving you anything on that,” Paul Maurice said postgame when asked about the embellishment penalties.

Florida’s attempt to tie the game for a third time would come to an end after Barrett Hayton scored an empty net goal to put the Mammoth up 4-2 with 55 seconds to go in regulation.

Carter Verhaeghe cut the deficit to one with 14 seconds left in the third after his wrist-shot went through a screen and past Vanecek.

Florida was able to gain possession of the puck in the final seconds of the game and control it in the Mammoth zone, but there just wasn’t enough time left to equalize.

“We had a good face-off play and we were trying to get one quick,” Verhaeghe said of Florida’s final attempt to tie the game. “We put a couple pucks to the net and it was kind of close. It was unfortunate that we were in that situation.”

PANTHERS NOTES

Forward Anton Lundell did not play in the third period. The Finnish center took a hard hit late in the second period and did not return to the bench following the second intermission. Paul Maurice says he thinks Lundell will be fine and they’ll look at him on Wednesday. It’s an upper-body designation.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad was laboring in pain after blocking a shot late in the third period after blocking a shot with his leg. Ekblad told George Richard’s of Florida Hockey Now that he was fine postgame.