SUNRISE - Lars Eller will skate into NHL history Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena, becoming the first Denmark-born player to appear in 1,200 regular-season games when the Florida Panthers host the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:30 p.m.
Eller, 37, enters the milestone game as the 142nd skater in league history to reach the mark. In 1,199 career games, the forward has tallied 447 points on 194 goals and 253 assists, adding eight points - one goal and seven assists - in 15 games with Florida this season. He scored the game-winning goal in the teams’ previous meeting, a 3-2 Panthers victory in Chicago on Oct. 25.
“If I reflect and look back, it’s pretty special. When I was a kid, playing in the NHL probably wasn’t even on the map or viewed as something realistically. It was something that was so far away. I think the little kid would be proud today,” Eller said.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice offered his own assessment of the veteran’s longevity. “I would say the great consistency is in the fundamentals of the game. He’s had very little aberration here at this age because he just does all the right hard things. Now, maybe it doesn’t go for him quite as often as it did when he was 28 or 29, but the mind hasn’t changed and it hasn’t slowed. His intensity and his quickness are really, really good. We see good legs on him and then he can get a shot off,” Maurice said.
Despite the celebratory backdrop, Eller cautioned against complacency against a Blackhawks team sitting at 4-10-1. “You underestimate that team and they can beat us if we’re not on top of our game,” he said. “We barely got by them in Chicago. I think they’re going to be competitive. If we think it’s going to be easy, we’ll probably lose.”
Florida enters the game at 8-5-2, having won six of its last nine, but looking to rebound from a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. The Panthers are averaging 4.00 goals per game at home this season, a favorable matchup against a Chicago squad allowing 3.87 goals per game.
Sam Reinhart brings momentum into the contest, having scored in each of his last three games and recorded at least one point in four straight. He ranks tied for third in the NHL with six power-play goals and has accumulated 18 points - seven goals and 11 assists - across 20 career games against Chicago. Defenseman Seth Jones is tied for fourth among NHL blueliners with 16 assists, while forward Garnet Hathaway ranks sixth in the league with 25.56 hits per 60 minutes.
Florida will make one lineup change on the blue line, inserting Uvis Balinskis in place of Radko Gudas. Balinskis, 30, last played Oct. 22 and has recorded 37 points - 10 goals and 27 assists - in 163 career games with the Panthers, including one assist in seven games this season.
Chicago presents its own storylines. Connor Bedard enters on a six-game point streak, logging three goals and four assists during that run and scoring three times in seven career games against Florida. Rookie Roman Kantserov is tied for first among NHL first-year players with six goals. Former Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight, who has faced the second-most shots in the NHL this season with 368 and carries a 4-8-0 record with a .894 save percentage, may start in net against his former club, though Chicago had not announced a starter at the time of the team’s preview release.
Cole Schwindt, meanwhile, has won 64.1% of his faceoffs this season. “For me, it’s always kind of been my bread and butter, taking faceoffs. I try to earn a little bit more trust in that way. I’ve always felt comfortable in the dot and, I think like you said, off to a little bit of a start and look to keep going there,” Schwindt said.
Wednesday’s game at Amerant Bank Arena tips off at 7:30 p.m. and airs on TNT, HBO Max and truTV, with radio coverage on 560 WQAM-AM in Dade and Broward counties.