#florida-panthers

#florida-panthers

The year 2025 was defined as much by its major milestones as by the quiet moments in between. This collection features the Sun Sentinel staff's most visual work of the year, from the high-energy celebrations of a Florida Panthers championship to local scenes of everyday life. View the people, places, and community events that made 2025 memorable across Broward and Palm Beach counties.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Matthew Tkachuk is back on the ice with the Florida Panthers, appearing at practice on Sunday for the first time this season and more than four months after he had surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle. Tkachuk has not played since Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, when the Panthers clinched their second consecutive title by again topping the Edmonton Oilers. He went through the summer trying to rehab - but eventually decided that he needed the surgery.

Florida scored three times in the second half of the third period to erase a three-goal deficit and then outdid the Carolina Hurricanes in the shootout to post a stunning 4-3 victory over the Eastern Conference's top team last night. Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart each had a goal and an assist and Evan Rodrigues scored the shootout-winner in the top of the fourth round and added two assists in the stunning comeback.

Nathan MacKinnon, Gavin Brindley and defenseman Sam Malinski each contributed a goal and an assist and Martin Necas and Josh Manson also produced multi-point games with two assists apiece. MacKinnon's second period marker was his 392nd, which made him the franchise leader in that category since the team relocated from Quebec City for the 1995-96 season, and essentially ended the game.

As the clock headed towards overtime, Lundell won an offensive zone draw back to Aaron Ekblad, who pushed the puck forward to Sam Reinhart. Reinhart sent a pass from the right boards down low to Eetu Luostarinen, who tipped it across the goal mouth. Lundell was able to bat the puck out of the air and just inside the post to give Florida its third straight win.

Slumping Florida finally earned a point in its current six-game homestand, which is turning out to be downright disastrous, in Thursday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators. New dad Carter Verhaeghe scored the Panthers' only goal, with the assists going to Sam Bennett and A.J. Greer, late in the first period. The Cats couldn't add on and Ryan O'Reilly tied the tilt with 6:19 left in regulation before former Bolt Steven Stamkos won it with 57 seconds left in the extra session.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 31 shots to make Sam Reinhart's first period snipe stand up in Florida's 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. It was Bobrovsky's second shutout of the season and the 51st of his career. Gustav Forsling drew the lone assist on Reinhart's goal, which gave Sam 1 the NHL lead in game-winning goals (five). A couple of milestones took place in Thursday's contest. Defenseman Jeff Petry suited up for his 1,000th NHL game and forward prospect Jack Devine played his first.

The Florida Panthers will be without one of their top defensive forwards, Eetu Luostarinen, on a week-to-week basis after he suffered a unique off-the-ice injury. According to team reporter Jameson Olive, head coach Paul Maurice announced that Luostarinen recently suffered burns during "a barbecue accident." Luostarinen's burns weren't severe enough to require an overnight hospital stay, but the Finnish forward's return date is unknown until he feels comfortable enough to put his gear back on.

The Florida Panthers get another day off to bask in the goal-scoring glory of Monday night's wild 8-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Florida has posted a 2-1 record on its current five-game homestand and will face the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at Amerant Bank Arena. The Devils were soundly beaten 5-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena last night.

Sidney Crosby opened the scoring and closed the door on the Cats with a pair of power-play goals. The legendary Penguin also had an assist to earn First Star honors. A tripping penalty on Jeff Petry led to Crosby's first marker 6:24 into the tilt. After Erik Karlsson ripped a shot towards the net that struck Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin and Rust joined forces to work the puck free to set up Crosby's wrister, which easily beat a swimming Sergei Bobrovsky, from the left circle.