Takeaways From the Panthers’ OT Preseason Win Over the Hurricanes

Jesper Boqvist helped the Florida Panthers complete a three-goal comeback with an overtime winner against the Carolina Hurricanes. Here are my takeaways.

Jesper Boqvist potted home a Hunter St. Martin rebound to complete a three-goal comeback and help the Florida Panthers skate away with a 5-4 preseason win against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Panthers roared back from a 4-1 deficit with three-second period goals to come back into the game.

Wilmer Skoog got the comeback started, deflecting a Ryan McAllister shot past Spencer Martin 6:53 into the middle frame. Sandis Vilmanis wired a one-timer past Martin off of a feed from Evan Nause with 6:11 to go in the second period.

Adam Boqvist tied the game with a blast of a slap shot via a slick pass from Anton Lundell with 1:16 to go in the second period to tie the game up.

Here are a few takeaways from the game:

— Patrick Giles continued to make his case for the job as Florida’s fourth line center in Tomas Nosek’s absence. He stayed hot offensively, notching a goal and an assist to bring his preseason totals up to two goals and six points, but his all-around play is what stood out. The speed he added to his game over the offseason makes him hard for defenders to deal with on the forecheck and his hands around the net are NHL caliber.

— Wilmer Skoog had himself an impressive night, putting up a goal and an assist. He’s fast, he’s a solid playmaker and he’s got a solid shot. He ended the AHL season on a very hot offensive stretch and his confidence has continued to build. The 25-year-old forward looks a lot closer to NHL ready than he did this time last year.

— Evan Nause looks a lot steadier in his own end than he did last year during camp. He also threaded a nice pass over to Sandis Vilmanis on his one-timer for his first assist of the preseason. He looks a lot more confident heading into his second season of professional hockey.

— Adam Boqvist has an absolute cannon of a slap shot. That’ll end up being pretty useful for his battle for a spot on the top power play unit.

— Chris Driedger looked very shaky to start the game, but finished strong overall. He got beat pretty bad glove side twice early on in the game, but he settled down by the second period.

— Hunter St. Martin continued his strong showing in camp. He took the puck up the ice with speed before teeing up the shot that led to Boqvist’s overtime winner. He likely goes back to his junior club soon, but the sixth-round pick figures to be an interesting prospect to watch.