‘Time flies when you’re having fun’: Luostarinen hits 400th career game

FORT LAUDERDALE – A fun game for a career milestone.

In the 4-3 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night at Amerant Bank Arena, in which the Florida Panthers came back from a three-goal deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period, Eetu Luostarinen skated in his 400th career game.

For the talented Finn, the fun has essentially never stopped since he joined the Panthers.

“It's a nice little milestone,” Luostarinen said ahead of the game. “It's been a lot of fun. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. A lot of good experiences and a lot of good memories, especially those deep playoff runs and obviously having some success as well.”

Since he returned from a barbecue accident that sidelined him for eight games, the Panthers have gone 7-1-0 with Luostarinen back in the lineup, a stellar stretch of success that has rocketed them up into the second spot in the Atlantic Division at 19-13-2.

During those eight games, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 32-23.

A critical part of the team’s penalty kill, the Panthers have allowed just three goals over the 26 times that they have been shorthanded since Luostarinen has returned to action.

Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Luostarinen’s 2:10 of average ice time on the penalty kill time per game ranks first among Panthers forwards and third overall, just behind defensemen Gustav Forsling (3:01) and Aaron Ekblad (2:45).

“It's huge,” Mackie Samoskevich said of getting Luostarinen back in the lineup. “Especially a guy like that. He’s so good defensively and obviously offensively too, but he's just kind of a rock back there. He helps our team so much - penalty kill, five-on-five, power play too. I think he's a special player and underrated for sure. Definitely it's huge for us to get back.”

In 26 games this season, the two-way forward has notched 13 points (3G, 10A), 55 hits and 23 blocks.

While he might not always garner headlines, Luostarinen’s value can’t be understated.

"He's in the (Aleksander) Barkov category of prototypical in the way that we want to play the game,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Luostarinen. “Now, we kind of honor the guys that put up a lot of points. We understand that. But in quality of role, he's as good a player as we have."

Playing a style that thrives in the playoffs, the 27-year-old has racked up 19 points (5G, 14A) and 87 hits while helping the Panthers win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025.

With those numbers, Luostarinen ranked seventh in points, fourth in assists and second in hits among his teammates in the playoffs.

“Luosty has grown a lot on and off the ice,” said long time linemate and good friend Anton Lundell. “When I first got to know him, he was a more quiet guy, and now he’s coming out of his shell and I think you see that on the ice. He’s always been a super skillful player, but now he’s able to believe that he can do it on this level as well. We can all see how well he’s been playing in the playoffs and the whole season.”

Collecting 142 points (53G, 89A) in 400 games so far, to go along with his two Stanley Cup rings, it’s safe to say that Luostarinen is just getting started.

There’s still plenty of more fun to be had.