The Florida Panthers are idle today. They will open a four-game road trip tomorrow night against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center, quickly concluding the season series between the two clubs. Anaheim beat the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday.
After splitting a pair of games on the road over the weekend, Charlotte Checkers record stands at 4-4-1.
On Saturday, the Checkers skated to a 5-3 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Sandis Vilmanis notched his first two goals of the season and Wilmer Skoog, Trevor Carrick and Brett Chorske also lit the lamp. Gracyn Sawchyn, Ben Steeves and Mike Benning each collected two assists and defenseman Tobias Bjornfot had one. Cooper Black made a season-high 32 saves to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Sunday saw Kirill Gerasimyuk make his first AHL start in a 5-2 loss to the Providence Bruins. Gerasimyuk stopped 30 of 34 shots faced. Nolan Foote and Riese Gaber scored the goals for the Checkers, while Carrick had the only assist.
The Checkers are off until Friday when they host the first of two games against the Syracuse Crunch at Bojangles Coliseum.
Tyler Muszelik made 19 saves in Connecticut’s 5-1 victory over Merrimack in Saturday NCAA action. Teammate and fellow Panthers prospect Brendan Dunphy had two assists in the win. Muszelik is 4-2-1 with a 2.14 and .929 save percentage. Dunphy has collected three assists and is +4 in seven games played.
Vladimir Lukashevich had an assist, blocked a shot and posted a -1 rating in the Miami RedHawks 5-2 victory over Arizona State. Lukashevich has a goal and seven assists in eight games.
Luke Coughlin blocked a shot and finished with an even rating Maine’s 8-5 win over Boston University. Coughlin has appeared in four games for the Black Bears this season.
Linus Eriksson drew his second assist of the season in Timra IK’s 5-0 win over HV71 in Saturday action from the Swedish Hockey League. Eriksson was credited with one shot on goal and won six of eight faceoffs. The 19-year-old has appeared in all 18 games for Timra this season.
Albert Wikman logged 7:38 of ice time and finished with an even rating in Farjestad BK’s 4-1 loss to Frolunda HC. Wikman has appeared in 12 SHL games this season
Simon Zether finished with a -1 rating and won one of four faceoffs in Rogle BK’s 2-0 defeat to Leksands IF. Zether has a goal and assist in 14 games played.
Denis Gabdrakhmanov was between the pipes in Rubin Tyumen’s 2-1 overtime victory over Orsk in Monday action from Russia’s VHL. Gabdrakhmanov is now 5-3-1 with a 1.86 GAA and .926 save percentage.
Monday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Pittsburgh (8-3-2 18P) at TORONTO (6-5-1 13P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
Idle: MON (18P), DET (18P), TBL (14P), OTT (14P), BOS (14P), FLA (13P), BUF (13P)