How Evan Rodrigues has filled key role for the Panthers. Plus a Barkov update
Need a sampling of how Evan Rodrigues can impact a game? Watch his patience on one of the Florida Panthers’ key goals in their win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Rodrigues took a stretch pass in the neutral zone from Gustav Forsling, broke down the ice behind the Blackhawks defense and made his way down to the left circle. He stuttered, changing direction to shake off Artyon Levshunov, then flicked the puck past Andre Burakovsky to set up Carter Verhaeghe, who fired a one-timer past Spencer Knight to give the Panthers a two-goal lead in the third period on their way to an eventual 5-1 win.
Rodrigues isn’t the biggest name on the Panthers’ roster.
But the do-it-all forward is playing one of the team’s biggest roles and finding ways to come up clutch in big moments.
Even as the Panthers start to get healthy, with the returns of star wingers Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand during the past week the biggest thus far, Rodrigues has still proven integral in Florida staying in the mix to get into the Stanley Cup playoffs with a little more than 30 games left in the season.
“When we win games here this year, he’s been a really major factor,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “When two and at times three guys in the middle go down to injury, you’re going to put somebody in and there’s a cost to it. Playing center ice is a harder position physically to play than the wings at times, especially if it’s a fast team. He’s been very strong for us, and his all-around game from the day he got here to now is completely different. His attention to detail and his compete level is very, very high and consistent basis.”
Rodrigues’ shift to center following injuries to Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Nosek initially just helped with depth, with Florida piecemealing together the bottom half of its forward lines.
Now?
He’s running the top forward line with Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart on the wings.
The Panthers’ coaching staff trusts him to handle big responsibilities.
And more often than not, he has handled it admirably.
Rodrigues entered Florida’s home game against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 51 games. He’s averaging just more than 17 minutes of ice time per game, about two minutes more than either of his first two seasons with the Panthers.
During Florida’s three-game road trip — which the Panthers swept with a shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, an overtime win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and the four-goal win over Chicago on Sunday — the Panthers held a 50-27 edge in shot attempts, 26-15 advantage in shots on goal and 21-11 lead in scoring chances when Rodrigues was on the ice.
“I feel like I’ve been pretty consistent all year long,” Rodrigues said. “It’s something that I actually have focused on a lot this year, and felt like I’ve done a pretty good job at it. Sometimes it’s winning a defensive matchup, sometimes it’s offensive. For the most part, I feel like I’ve been pretty consistent all year long. I’m happy with it.”
Barkov doing on-ice work
Speaking of Barkov, the Panthers’ captain was on the ice late Tuesday morning with skills coach Max Ivanov and three other Florida players currently out long-term — fellow forwards Nosek and Jonah Gadjovich plus defenseman Dmitry Kulikov — as they continue their rehab.
The four players were in full gear as they worked on puck handling and pushed hard down the ice during individual drills.
Barkov, who had surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee, is expected to be out the entirety of the regular season but the Panthers are holding out hope he could be available should they make the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The timeline for both Nosek (knee) and Gadjovich (upper body) to return has been stated as being following the Olympic break in February, while Kulikov (shoulder) is likely out until at least March. Defenseman Seth Jones (upper body) is also out through the Olympics.
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