Panthers hope the return of Luongo and their win in Finland gives them needed spark

Maybe Roberto Luongo’s return will spark the Panthers.

Maybe Friday’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Finland will spark the Panthers.

Maybe a return to the BB&T Center for three consecutive games next week will spark the Panthers.

The Panthers certainly hope all of those things are true as they are in last place among the 16 Eastern Conference teams, with just nine points in 11 games. And out of 31 NHL teams, only the Los Angeles Kings have fewer points than the Panthers.

Here are four Panthers takeaways as the team gets ready for its next game, at home on Thursday against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers:

▪ 1: Luuuuu: Luongo returned on Friday for the first time since suffering a knee injury during the season opener.

In his only full game of the season, he earned the win and made 32 saves against a team that made the Western Conference semifinals last season.

Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, in a postgame interview with Randy Moller of Fox Sports Florida, was careful not to insult James Reimer, who replaced Luongo as the starter during most of the past 10 games.

“’Rimes’ was really good the past couple of games,” Barkov said. “[But] ‘Lu’ is amazing. He’s speaking a lot in the net, telling us what to do, yelling and giving us advice. We feel confident in front of him.”

Luongo, who gave up one power-play goal and another five-on-five, made 17 saves in the third period alone.

“The coaches left it up to me. It was my call whether I wanted to start today or wait until next week,” Luongo told the media after Friday’s game. “I wasn’t quite sure early in the week. But the closer I got to the game, the better I felt.”

▪ 2: Slow start (again): The Panthers got off to a poor start last season, and it cost them as they finished just one point short of a playoff berth despite being perhaps the hottest team in the NHL the final three months.

The Panthers didn’t get going until Jan. 30 last season, and it’s impossible to predict when — or if — they will make a true run this season.

The thought here is that the Panthers are better than they have shown, and there’s still plenty of time to turn things around. But if we’re still saying the same things in December and then January, that’s a problem for the Panthers.

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle, who has two goals and three assists in his past four games, feels a surge is coming.

“We’re doing a ton of good things,” Yandle said. “We’re playing hard every night. We’ve just got to go out and earn two points.”

▪ 3: Hot Panthers: Besides Yandle, hot Panthers include Evgenii Dadonov (five goals and five assists in his past eight games) and Mike Hoffman (nine-game points streak, including six goals and three assists).

Panthers coach Bob Boughner said Hoffman, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Ottawa Senators, has adjusted to his defensive system, and that has helped him on offense.

“He’s not overthinking it now,” Boughner said. “I think it’s becoming instinct with him. He realizes that to be successful, he needs to get six or seven shots off per game.”

In the past three games, Hoffman is on that prescribed pace, taking 18 shots on goal. His point streak is the longest ever by a first-year Panthers player.

As for Dadonov, he has a career-long eight-game point streak, and Yandle is one of only nine NHL defensemen averaging at least one point per game.

▪ 4: Homecoming: Barkov, a native of Finland, clearly had a blast playing in his home country.

“I’m a little bit sad it’s over,” he said of the two-game European trip. “It was a great experience. I can’t be more thankful to Finnish fans and Finnish people.

“It was a great opportunity to come here. They really took care of us. Maybe one day we will come back.”

Barkov, who had just one assist and no goals in the two games in Finland, hasn’t put up monster numbers so far this season.

But that’s of little or no concern to Boughner.

“Barkov played a heavy game,” Boughner said after Friday’s game. “He cares a lot more about winning than individual stats. That’s why we made him captain.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2018 at 1:55 PM.