Mackie Samoskevich Coming on Strong with the Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers have to love what they see in Mackie Samoskevich lately.

Well, all season, actually.

Since moving him to the top power-play unit, Samoskevich has unleashed what the Panthers have been anticipating.

In Thursday’s 3-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Samoskevich scored a power-play goal by banging in a fat rebound off a Sasha Barkov shot from the slot.

Against the Lightning on Monday, he had the primary assist on Barkov’s power-play goal, which turned out to be the game-winner.

His combined nine shots on goal and eleven hits in the two games may be buried in the stats, but they are hard to miss.

Watching Samoskevich blossom for the Florida Panthers has had coach Paul Maurice raving all season.

“I’m learning a lot pretty quickly,” Samoskevich said, crediting his mates on the power play for helping him open things up.

“They are so smart. The coaching staff, as well — they’re a lot of help. We do a lot of video on what to expect, and one of the things coming in was that we have to be around the net for those second chances, and that’s what happened [Thursday].”

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Before Samoskevich became a Panther regular, he had a few cups of coffee with the big club.

After two solid seasons at the University of Michigan, he left to join the Panthers.

Samoskevich had an impressive training camp last year, earning him seven NHL early season games.

He practiced with them during the playoffs when the Charlotte season ended.

An impressive season in Charlotte (22 goals and 54 points in 62 games) last year had him penciled in as a full-time NHLer this year.

This time, Samoskevich was with the Florida Panthers to stay. 

As the season progressed, he worked from rotating on the fourth line and sub-10 minutes each night to the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. 

Evan Rodrigues is now on the right side, a trio that could stay intact since Tkachuk will not return during the regular season.

He moved up to the first power play unit in Tkachuk’s absence.

Samoskevich is on a hot streak, with four goals and five points in the last seven games. 

After practice this week, Samoskevich held court and reflected upon his first full season in the NHL.

He explained that his competitive nature is his most significant asset in a pressure environment.

“I’m just a competitor. I want to win,” he said. “It just brings it out of me. Even in little games in practice, I want to win. It’s little things like that … I try not to think about the pressure too much. It helps to not think about it. 

“In the third period, when the pressure’s on, you do your thing. You’re here for a reason. So, just focus on that.”

Samoskevich credits his season in Charlotte as critical to his growth into an NHL-caliber player.

“Being able to play with no pressure and just grow as a person and as a player,” he said, “was huge for me. It was big getting just little glimpses of the NHL and being able to go back there and work on stuff that I wasn’t very good at here. It was huge for me.”

Maurice has been very vocal about how much he likes Samoskevich’s game, regardless of where he had him in the lineup.

When he put Samoskevich with Bennett, he saw something he wanted to keep going.

“That confidence concept is really important, but it’s earned,” Maurice said.

“There’s a learning curve to the National Hockey League, and there’s a learning curve with our team, to come in and play a certain style of hockey.

“He’s been really good at that. Ahead of the curve from where I thought he would be. So, I guess I would say I’m hopeful that he sees it the same way I did. He should be confident right now. It’s all the hard things he’s doing – the source of his confidence.”

Samoskevich is also the answer to a trivia question: ‘Who was the last Panthers’ first-round draft pick?’

After taking Samoskevich with the 24th overall pick in 2021, Florida has traded the rest of their first-round picks through 2026.

Hey, they got a good one in the kid from Michigan.

The folks from Columbus saw it firsthand on Thursday.

ON DECK: GAME No. 64

BUFFALO SABRES at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WPTV 5/WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Panthers Won 3-0
• This Season (Tied 1-1) — At Buffalo: Sabres 5, Panthers 2 (Oct. 12); Panthers 5, Sabres 2 (Oct. 28). At Florida: Saturday; April 12.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 58-46-8, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m.