FHN Today: California Adventure Starts with Wild Win for Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers may not have great memories of their trip to Arizona earlier this week, but things started to look up in the Golden State.

The Panthers kicked off their three-game jaunt through California by giving up a third-period lead then rallying to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in a shootout last night.

Or early this morning.

Kind of foggy, these late nights, eh?

And, after the Panthers gave up a 2-0 lead in the third and then got a Carter Verhaeghe goal to force overtime, this was most definitely a late one.

Good morning, Sunrise!

The Panthers are now in Los Angeles with a practice in El Segundo now canceled after the late night flight south from San Jose.

Florida faces the Kings at the former Staples Center on Saturday night.

Florida wraps up its sea-to-shining-sea trip in Anaheim on Sunday.

The Panthers will not have time to check out Disneyland, but hey, ours is not too far away.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

Eetu Luostarinen was the least known of the four players the Florida Panthers got in return for Vincent Trocheck in 2020, but he certainly has lasting power — and is now a very important part of the team.

— The Panthers got goals from Sasha Barkov, Radko Gudas and Carter Verhaeghe before Sam Reinhart and Sergei Bobrovsky won it in a shootout in San Jose.

Patric Hornqvist left the game after a high hit in the first period but there was no update to his status given following the game. Paul Maurice said he will be further evaluated today.

— Gus Forsling turned out to be quite a find for the Panthers.

— Rudolfs Balcers made his return to the Shark Tank on Thursday night.

— The Baclers Story: From the San Jose Hockey Now point of view.

— Hear from Maurice, Reinhart and Bobrovsky following Thursday’s game in San Jose on the FHN YouTube Channel which can be accessed RIGHT HERE or click on the video below.

If you subscribe to the channel — which is free — you will be alerted whenever a new video pops up.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

Florida fans have not been all that happy with the team’s start to the season, but on Thursday night, the Calgary Flames were booed at home after losing their third consecutive game.

— The Montreal Canadiens could be in trade talks with a number of teams. This may bear watching. Everyone loves a trade.

— Tomas Hertl says he believes in the San Jose Sharks.

— The Boston Bruins will be without defenseman Derek Forbort for a little bit.

— Lil John joins the Vegas Golden Knights.

— The Dallas Stars hand the Coyotes another loss in Tempe.

— A bad 90 seconds cost the Los Angeles Kings against the Stars.

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT LOS ANGELES KINGS

• When: Saturday, 10:30 p.m.
• Where: Crypto.Com Arena, Los Angeles
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Last season: Los Angeles won 2-0
  
• All-time regular season series: Los Angeles leads 23-14-0, 3 ties