Vilmanis Assists as Florida Panthers Extend Winning Streak to Three

Latvian forward Sandis Vilmanis picked up an assist on Saturday in a National Hockey League (NHL) regular-season game, the top professional ice hockey league in North America. His team, the Florida Panthers, won 4-1 (2-0, 1-0, 1-1) away against the St. Louis Blues, securing a third straight victory. Florida played without defenseman Uvis Balinskis.

Vilmanis assisted on Florida's second goal. About six and a half minutes into the game, Dmitry Kulikov made it 2-0 after passes from Vilmanis and Sam Bennett. The Latvian spent 14 minutes and 13 seconds on the ice, delivered five hits, gave the puck away once and finished with a plus-minus of +1. In 18 games this season he has three goals and five assists.

Bradley Tkachuk's name aside, the scoring for Florida also came from Brady Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell; Tkachuk and Reinhart also added assists. The Blues' only goal came in the third period from Dylan Holloway on the power play. Winning goaltender Jakob Markstrom stopped 23 shots, while Joel Hofer stopped 24 for St. Louis.

Florida, with 26 points in 21 games, sits seventh in the Eastern Conference, while St. Louis, with 20 points in 20 games, is tenth in the Western Conference.

Other games involving Latvians

Zemgus Girgensons and the Tampa Bay Lightning lost 2-0 at home to the Detroit Red Wings. Girgensons played 16 minutes and 37 seconds, had three shots on goal, made six hits, won six of 14 faceoffs and finished with a plus-minus of -1. Detroit goaltender Dan Tarasov stopped 31 shots. Tampa Bay, with 28 points in 20 games, is third in the Eastern Conference.

Teodors Blugers and the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 1-0 at home to the Edmonton Oilers. Blugers played 12 minutes and 18 seconds, won four of six faceoffs and blocked three shots. Evan Bouchard scored the winner in the second period. Toronto, with 18 points in 22 games, is 13th in the East, while Edmonton, with 33 points in 21 games, is second in the West.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, with goaltender Arturs Silovs on the bench as a backup, lost 4-1 at home to the Ottawa Senators.