Florida Panthers prospect Ty Smilanic made his NCAA debut last night in Quinnipiac’s 9-2 romp over Sacred Heart in Hamden, CT. The Panthers third-rounder (74th overall) in the 2020 NHL Entry didn’t figure in the scoring, but he did register three shots on goal and finished his first collegiate game with a +1 rating. The two teams will meet again tonight.
Justin Schutz notched his second goal of the season in EC Red Bull Salzburg’s 4-1 loss to the Vienna Capitals in a Sunday game from Austria’s ICE Hockey League. Schutz’ power-play marker came 10:09 into the second period and tied the score at one apiece. He finished the game with three shots on goal and a -1 rating. Schutz has scored in back-to-back games after going goalless in his first 14 games of the season. He has produced nine points in 16 games for Red Bull.
Elliot Ekmark, a 2020 seventh-rounder, has put up 10 points (2G/8A) in 7 games for Linkoping’s J20 squad. Ekmark has also played three scoreless games for the oganization’s top-level team in the Swedish Hockey League.
All five Panthers prospects (Eetu Luostarinen, Rodrigo Abols, Aleksi Heponiemi, Vladislav Kolyachonok and Alec Rauhauser) under contract and currently on loan to European club teams have yet to be recalled. It will be interesting to see which of these players return to North America for training camp and/or to play in the AHL and which, if any, stay in Europe for the remainder of the season.