Panthers forward ejected in first period of Game 3 vs Hurricanes for boarding
The Florida Panthers ended up being down two key forwards for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
In addition to star winger Sam Reinhart being sidelined for the game Saturday due to a lower-body injury, Florida played the final two periods of its eventual 6-2 win over the Hurricanes without third-line winger Eetu Luostarinen, one of the team’s surprise stars this postseason, after he was ejected late in the first period.
The penalty was assessed with 3:01 left in the first period when Luostarinen boarded Carolina forward Jackson Blake, who crashed head first and remained down on the ice momentarily.
Luostarinen was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
Luostarinen entered Saturday tied for the team lead with 13 points, producing four goals and nine assists, while leading the NHL in plus-minus (plus-12) this postseason.
With Luostarinen ejected and Reinhart a scratch, Florida was without two of its top penalty-killing forwards for the remainder of the game.
But the group held its own, with Florida killing off the five-minute major penalty that spanned the final 3:01 of the first period and the first 1:59 of the second.
Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist stepped up on the kill, logging minute to supplement Aleksander Barkov, Tomas Nosek, Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand.
Florida leads the best-of-7 series 3-0 and is one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive year.
This story was originally published May 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM.
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