Mackie Samoskevich Scores First NHL Goal in Front of Friends and Family

“It all means the world,” Samoskevich said. “They have sacrificed so much for me. You remember so many memories of them driving to the rink and stuff, and it ll leads up to this. It feels a lot better

ELMONT, N.Y. — With his family in attendance, Mackie Samsokevich achieved a childhood dream.

The Samoskevich family made the 73-mile trip from Newtown, Conn. to Elmont, N.Y. to watch Mackie’s Florida Panthers take on the New York Islanders, and he put on a show for them.

With Florida trailing by two goals late in the second period, Samoskevich zipped past the New York defense and tucked the puck past Semyon Varlamov to tie the game up at 3-3 with less than two minutes to go in the second period.

“It all means the world,” Samoskevich said. “They have sacrificed so much for me. You remember so many memories of them driving to the rink and stuff, and it ll leads up to this. It feels a lot better that they’re in the building. Just wanted to save it for them.”

Perhaps the hockey gods were waiting for that game to make it happen, because there were quite a few close calls.

Samoskevich has had a flurry of wrap-around attempts get stuffed, high-danger shots just zip past the goaltender and hit the post and quality scoring chances that came up empty throughout the first 10 games of the season.

He had another one of those midway through the second period, when he ripped a wrist shot past Varlamov but just dinged the inside of the post and saw it bounce its way away from harm.

But that didn’t deter him — as did none of those other empty scoring chances — and he kept on chugging, making plays, and eventually, it clicked.

“It felt like 1,000 pounds off my shoulders,” Samoskevich said. “I felt like I played good enough to score. It just wasn’t going in, so [my teammates] were supporting me the whole way, telling me to keep going and it’s coming and stuff like that. It was a huge having them behind me.”

That was the mindset Samoskevich always played with.

He didn’t shrink on the bench after each of those scoring chances. He had the confidence to keep pushing and keep creating more of them.

“You just have to embrace the bad days,” Samoskevich said. “Bad days are what makes you grow, and when you have a couple chances go and it doesn’t go, it’s not the best feeling. But you know it’s coming. And getting negative on yourself isn’t gonna help, so sticking with it is a big thing.”

After every game where had those chances go awry, he always repeated the same thing: “It’s going to come.”

And he never started gripping the stick too tight and becoming more conservative with his play overtime, there was still a ton of pizzazz to his game. And it paid off in a big way Saturday night on Long Island.

“It was really incredible to see,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “I don’t think we’re going to forget that one.

“That was one of the nicest first goals I’ve ever seen, and way nicer than mine. So, I’m very happy for him. He’s been so close and to see him put that one in with style was incredible. And just talking with him, he had a lot of family, cousins and friends here, so that just makes it super special.”

Becuase, really, that was how Samoskevich learned to be a dynamic offensive player all throughout his life, whether it was back home in Connecticut, in the USHL with the Chicago Steel, in college with the University of Michigan, and eventually, the pros.

“I’m going to assume he’s generated offense at every level he’s ever been at,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I think it’s innate now. He has a complete belief that he can do it, and he can do it. He’s done it in practice, he’s done it in-game, he’s had chances. He’s going to produce numbers, there’s no doubt about that.”

Things went full circle for Samoskevich on Saturday night.

Playing against a team he spent his childhood rooting against pretty heavily as a New York Rangers fan, the rush that led to his goal was started when Spencer Knight took the puck from behind his net and slipped it off to Dmitry Kulikov. He picked up an assist on the goal.

Knight grew up in Darien, Conn., which is 40 miles away from Samsokevich’s hometown of Newtown.

They played with and against each other growing up before eventually spending most of last season together with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL.

“It’s pretty cool,” Samoskevich said. “I didn’t know that. He just told me like five minutes ago, so that would be a good run for the Checkers. But I grew up playing with him, against him, so that adds to a special night.”