As the Florida Panthers get ‘back to reality,’ a last look at their nine-game homestand
The Florida Panthers’ three-week stay in South Florida has come to an end.
Nine games have come and gone, and after a rough three-game losing streak midway through, the Panthers’ offense came to life to close out the set with a 6-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday and a 7-4 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday.
While the two blowouts to close out the homestand were nice and allowed the Panthers to finish the three-week stint at home with a 5-4-0 record, they know there is still work to do.
“Not every night is going to be a 6-1 or 7-4 win. We have to learn to win 2-1 games, 1-0 games,” Noel Acciari said. “I think the past two games have been complete games. We’re on our way to doing that. We can play a tough, gritty game too.
“I think we found our groove as a team. We have to continue it.”
They have the confidence. They have the momentum. They have to carry it away from the BB&T Center.
“Now,” forward Vincent Trocheck said, “it’s back to reality.”
That reality starts Saturday as the Panthers (17-12-5) finish a back-to-back against the Carolina Panthers and then turn around to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
After that, Florida plays just six of their next 16 at home.
“We’re going to have a busy stretch here,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
As that stretch begins, let’s take one final look at some highlights from that nine-game run.
Bobrovsky’s breakthrough
Early on, the Panthers did not get the Sergei Bobrovsky they were hoping for when they signed him to a 7-year, $70 million contract over the offseason.
But after 10 days on the bench, including being relegated to backup duties for the first two games in this stretch, Bobrovsky returned to the form of the two-time Vezina Trophy winner that he can be.
The 31-year-old Russian goaltender stopped 230 of 244 shots that came his way in the last seven starts for a .943 save percentage.
He gave up two goals or less in five of those seven outings.
“Some things you don’t like to talk about,” Quenneville said, “but he’s quietly gone about his business and he looks like he’s doing a lot of talking by the way he’s playing.”
It all started on Dec. 7 when he stopped 33 of 34 shots that came his way, including the first 28, en route to a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in his first meeting against his former team.
The performances that followed: 31 saves against the San Jose Sharks, 48 saves against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 29 saves against the New York Islanders, 41 saves against the Boston Bruins, 30 saves against Ottawa and 31 saves against Dallas.
“When you have a long season, sometimes it’s good to work behind the scenes and get that reset,” Bobrovsky said.
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Acciari’s ascension
Nobody saw Acciari’s production coming.
His coach certainly didn’t.
But there Acciari was, working with new linemates Jonathan Huberdeau and Trocheck over the final two games of the homestand.
And scoring goals. Six to be exact.
Acciari posted hat tricks in both wins against Ottawa and Dallas, becoming the second player in Panthers history to do so in back-to-back games.
The other: Hall of Famer Pavel Bure in 2001.
“The odds, or the percentages, of that happening, I’d like to have placed that bet one time,” Quenneville said. “I wouldn’t know what the odds would be. That was a great couple of games for him.”
It’s hard to fault Quenneville on that assumption. Prior to Monday, Acciari never had a multi-goal game in 209 career NHL appearances.
But he has been the benefactor of working alongside Huberdeau, the Panthers’ all-time assists leader, and do-it-all center Trocheck — a move that surfaced after Quenneville tried to jumpstart the offense following sluggish losses to the Lightning (2-1), Islanders (3-1) and Bruins (4-2).
Huberdeau moved from the top line to the second line. Acciari moved up from centering the fourth line to being a winger to Trocheck’s left.
“Playing with those guys, it’s a lot of fun,” Acciari said. “You’ve just got to get open and they find you and they’ve been doing that lately so it’s just been a lot of fun.”
Acciari now has a career-high 11 goals in 31 games.
Many Milestones
Acciari wasn’t the only one to pick up milestones during the homestand.
▪ Huberdeau on Monday picked up his 400th career point while playing in Game No. 500. He recorded four more points on Friday to get within 15 of tying Olli Jokinen for the franchise’s all-time record.
▪ Chris Driedger opened the homestand with a 27-save shutout against the Nashville Predators. He’s the first goaltender in Panthers history to post a shutout in his team debut.
▪ Defenseman Keith Yandle extended his iron man streak to 831 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak in NHL history.
By the numbers
Top goal scorer: Noel Acciari (6), Aleksander Barkov (4), Anton Stralman (3), six with two goals; 15 players scored at least one goal.
Most points: Jonathan Huberdeau (14), Barkov (9), Keith Yadle (9), Acciari (8); 17 players recorded at least one point.
Top average ice time: Aaron Ekblad (23:06), Yandle (22:08), Stralman (20:28), Barkov (19:35), MacKenzie Weegar (18:47).
Power play: 18.1 percent (season average: 22 percent)
Penalty Kill: 79.1 percent (season average: 82.3 percent)
Faceoff win: 50.7 percent (season average: 50.6 percent)
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
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