Sunrise, Fla. – Florida Panthers forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Niko Mikkola earned bronze medals for their native Finland at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics today with a 6-1 victory over Slovakia at the Santa Giulia Arena in Milan, Italy. Panthers assistant coach Tuomo Lutu also served as an assistant coach in Finland.
Randell (1-1-2), Luostarinen (0-4-4) and Mikkola (0-3-3) combined for nine points in Finland’s six games at the tournament. Landel assisted on Artturi Lehkonen’s overtime goal in the quarterfinals against Switzerland, and Mikkola was tied for first against Finland with a plus-9 rating. Lundell, Luostarinen and Mikkola become the seventh, eighth and ninth players in franchise history to win Olympic medals representing Florida. The Cats have six Finnish Olympic medal winners in club history, including Esa Tikkanen (1998, bronze), Olli Jokinen (2006, silver) and Aleksander Barkov (2014, bronze).
The United States, including Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, Director of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito, and Head Equipment Manager Teddy Richards, will face Canada and Panthers forwards Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart in the gold medal game tomorrow, February 22 at 8:10 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
The Panthers have 10 of the league’s top players and five staff members representing their countries at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
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Etu Luostarinen (Finland)
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Bill Zito (Assistant General Manager – USA) Teddy Richards (Equipment Manager – USA) Tuomo Ruutu (Assistant Coach – Finland) Myles Fee (Video Coach – Sweden) Jamie Kompon (Assistant Coach – Germany)
The Florida Panthers return to action against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday, February 26th at 7pm ET on Scripps Sports and Panthers Plus.
