Nate Schmidt Has Playoff Night to Remember for Florida Panthers

TAMPA — It does not take much to get Nate Schmidt going, something teammates noticed immediately and, Tuesday night, jokingly caught the ire of coach Paul Maurice.

Schmidt had a playoff game to remember Tuesday, scoring a pair of goals in the Panthers 6-2 Game 1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Those two goals earned Schmidt a spot on the postgame podium with captain Sasha Barkov.

Barkov was more than willing to cede the spotlight to Schmidt — who was more than willing to fill it.

Maurice was waiting for his turn to speak to the gathered media, saying Schmidt “went over the time limit” and would not be back on the podium again.

To be fair, Schmidt and Barkov spoke for 5:44 combined on Tuesday.

The Panthers would love to have Schmidt be called up again.

And, make no mistake, they love having Schmidt on this team.

“Personality, right away, and that part we knew,” Maurice said Wednesday when he was asked about Schmidt’s fit with the team.

“He is a really positive, upbeat, vocal kind of guy. He fit right in with that. I would compare him with Seth Jones in a lot of ways in that, he was coming off a lot of years in a completely different style of play. He just built his game, especially in the back half of the season, he adjusted to how we play. He has been very effective in that.”

Added pal Dmitry Kulikov: “He has been great. Right away, he was an easy guy to get along with and is a hard worker. He fits in great, had a big night last night. He is an easy-going guy who talks too much sometimes, but I like that. Sometimes you are a little tired in the morning, you come in the morning, and you hear that guy’s voice and it brings a smile to your face.’’

Schmidt was all but giddy when he signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers on July 1.

The past few seasons in Winnipeg had not gone well for Schmidt, with the Jets buying out the final year of a contract that paid him $6 million annually after making him a healthy scratch in 20 games — including two in the playoffs — last season.

He played in 80 of the 82 games for the Panthers in this one. Both scratches came early in the season, including the opener against the Bruins.

Schmidt, who briefly played for Maurice and Florida assistant Jamie Kompon in Winnipeg during the 2021-22 season, said money was not a motivating factor in signing a one-year, $800,000 deal with the Panthers.

Being reunited with Maurice — and having the chance to play with a team such as the Panthers — was his motivating factor.

“Money? I have what I need for the rest of my life,’’ Schmidt said upon joining the Panthers. “I want to win a Cup and want to do it with a team that’s going to have fun doing it.”

Schmidt has tasted individual and team success in the NHL during his career, going to the Stanley Cup Final with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in 2018 — only to lose to the same Washington Capitals team he grew up with and had left him exposed in the expansion draft the summer before.

When he signed with the Panthers, Schmidt talked about trying to find that magic recipe like he and the Golden Knights had — and figured South Florida was a place that had mastered it.

Tuesday night, he brought up those good times in Vegas and how being with the Panthers felt so right.

“This team, you want to come in and just not screw it up then start to integrate yourself and find how you bring your own brand to their game,” Schmidt said. “There was a long way to South Florida and, for me, one thing I heard about this team and how they treat each other, how they take an every day look at it, is something I coveted. I had not seen something like this since my days in Vegas; the type of gel within a team.

“To say I wasn’t nervous coming in would be wrong, because I was. You never know how you can help a team like this. But this team, with the personalities and the game style that we have, it doesn’t even come from the staff. It comes from the bench, comes from the team. And for the handful of us who came in, it helped us assimilate right away. When guys are comfortable in the room, they’re comfortable on the ice.”

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 2

FLORIDA PANTHERS at TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Panthers Lead Best-of-7 Series 1-0

• When: Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• National TV: TBS/truTV
• Streaming: Panthers+, MAX
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 6, @ Tampa Bay 2; Game 2 at Tampa: Thursday, 6:30 (TBS/Scripps); Game 3 at Florida: Saturday, 1 (TBS/Scripps); Game 4 at Florida: Monday, April 28, 7 (ESPN/Scripps); Game 5* at Tampa: Wednesday, April 30 (TBA); Game 6* at Florida: Friday, May 2 (TBA); Game 7* at Tampa: Sunday, May 4 (TBA).
• Regular Season Series: Tied 2-2
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-53-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Tampa Bay Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.