Luostarinen fine with flying under radar for Panthers in Cup Final

EDMONTON -- Eetu Luostarinen doesn't mind being overshadowed.

So, though the Florida Panthers forward appreciates coach Paul Maurice saying, "Eetu's not known around this league, but he should be," he is content to keep a lower profile behind the Panthers' bigger-name players in their rematch with the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.

"I think it's just my personality, too," Luostarinen said. "I've got to get comfortable to be talking much. That's who I am. Going under the radar is what I like the most."

That shouldn't be a problem in this Cup Final, which Edmonton leads 1-0 heading into Game 2 at Rogers Place on Friday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX). There is plenty of star power on both sides, including Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard for the Oilers and Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett for the Panthers.

Luostarinen has threatened to emerge from the usual anonymity provided by his third-line left wing role, though, with 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 18 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That matches his total point production (also four goals, nine assists) in 40 games during the previous two postseasons, when he helped the Panthers reach the Cup Final in 2023 before losing the Vegas Golden Knights in five games and again last season, when they defeated the Oilers in seven games to win the Cup for the first time.

Luostarinen continues to do the little things such as sliding to block a Jake Walman slap shot off is right knee to prevent a potential goal in overtime of Game 1 of the Cup Final on Wednesday, one of his three blocks in 4-3 loss. But his increased offensive production playing with longtime center and fellow Finland native Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand, who was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins on March 7, has drawn more attention to his well-rounded game.

"He does a lot of things right on the ice and you don't always see that on the score sheet," Lundell said. "He's very good on the penalty kill and he defends well and plays hard. But at the same time, he's very underrated.

"He's a skilled forward and, as we've been seeing lately, he can score come goals and make some plays."

All 13 of Luostarinen's points have come at even strength, which is tied for sixth in the playoffs. The 26-year-old is also tied for fourth in the NHL with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 11 road games.

Luostarinen's playoff outburst has come after he had only 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season -- down from 27 last season and a career-high 43 in 2023. So, what's changed?

"I think I've always had that offensive upside, but just now it's really going my way, a few bounces, too," he said. "It's just getting more confident with the puck and being able to make plays. Adding 'Marchy' too has helped bring that offensive side."

Marchand, a Stanley Cup winner with Boston in 2011 who is playing in his fourth Cup Final, has brought out the best in Luostarinen and Lundell since joining them on Florida's third line.

Marchand, a veteran of 16 NHL seasons with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 18 playoff games, has been impressed by Luostarinen's ability make an impact in multiple ways.

That includes using his size (6-foot-3, 191 pounds) to win board battles and wear down opponents physically. Luostarinen is second on the Panthers in the playoffs with 74 hits (behind Bennett's 87) and first among their forwards with 22 blocked shots despite ranking ninth among their forwards in averaging 14:56 in ice time per game.

"He plays a man's game," Marchand said. "He plays through bodies. He's hard on pucks. He wins a lot of battles. Very, very skilled. He's great with the puck. He doesn't force plays. He's very smart in a way that he plays a winning-type style where he's not putting plays into the middle of the ice where they can get picked off. He puts pucks up well, puts them in corners and then goes and gets it back, and then he'll make plays around the net front.

"I think he's a little bit underrated in the skill set that he has, but then so defensively good with his stick."

Marchand compared that part of Luostarinen's game to his former Bruins linemate Patrice Bergeron, a six-time winner of the Selke Trophy winner as the NHL's top defensive forward.

"It reminds me a lot of 'Bergy' the way he leads with his stick a lot," Marchand said. "He kills a lot of plays that way and creates offense from that."

A second-round pick (No. 42) in the 2017 NHL Draft, Luostarinen was acquired in a Feb. 24, 2020, trade with the Carolina Hurricanes as part of a package of players in exchange for forward Vincent Trocheck. He began the 2022-23 season as Florida's fourth-line center before being shifted to left wing because of Florida's depth in the middle with Barkov, Bennett and Lundell.

Maurice believes Luostarinen could still excel at center if needed and continues to push his ceiling higher than perhaps even he expected.

"He's just gotten stronger and faster," Maurice said. "His reads are, there's that kind of Barkov, Lundell defensive reads. … There's some offense there and, certainly, I think some of it is born quickness. He's gotten faster and then Anton Lundell's doing the exact same thing that he's doing at the exact same time, so now it gets to be a better line. And then Brad Marchand comes in and then there's an offensive level of his game that these two hopefully will learn."

The Panthers have long appreciated the other parts of Luostarinen's game. They were missed when he had to sit out the Cup Final against the Golden Knights two seasons ago because of a fractured tibia.

Luostarinen said watching Florida lose that series without him, "left a hunger," that was a driving force for him last season. The past year has been far more satisfying.

After helping the Panthers win the Stanley Cup for the first time last June, he played in front of family and friends at the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland against the Dallas Stars in Tampere in November and represented his country at the 4 Nations Face-off in February. He became a first-time father shortly after returning from that tournament when he and wife Tiia welcomed daughter Sophia.

"It's been a great year," he said. "A lot of things happened, a lot of exciting things."

Although some of that excitement has pushed Luostarinen into the spotlight more than usual, he's ready for more. Winning the Cup once wasn't enough.

"That feeling when the clock hit zero, it was something I can't even describe," he said. "So, we're going for that again."