Florida Panthers’ slick-passing Jonathan Huberdeau keeps racking up milestones
Jonathan Huberdeau knew the day was coming, but he didn’t realize how close it was.
As the Florida Panthers prepared for their Monday night game against the Ottawa Senators, the 26-year-old was told that once he stepped on the ice, he would be playing in his 500th NHL game.
“You always see the guys going to 1,000 games, so I’m halfway there,” Huberdeau said after the team’s Tuesday morning skate. “I’m just going to enjoy it, but right now it’s more about winning a game.”
The Panthers won 6-1, snapping a three-game losing skid.
And while Noel Acciari got a lot of the focus for recording his first career hat trick, Huberdeau continued making history of his own.
The slick-passing forward dished out a single-game career-best four assists, including helping on Acciari’s first two goals. He also had the primary assists on Aleksander Barkov’s power-play goal and Mike Matheson’s one-timer late in the Panthers’ five-goal second period.
With those four assists, Huberdeau became the second player in Panthers history to record 400 career points. He is 19 points shy of tying Olli Jokinen for the franchise record. Huberdeau already set the franchise’s career assist record this season.
He leads the Panthers and ranks ninth in the NHL with 41 points this season. His 30 assists rank sixth.
“I knew I was close [to 400 career points], but didn’t know how close,” Huberdeau said. “It was just a night that was working for our line.”
After the Panthers managed only four goals during their three-game losing streak, coach Joel Quenneville mixed and matched all four of his forward lines.
Huberdeau moved from his normal spot on the top line with Barkov and Evgenii Dadonov to the second line with Vincent Trocheck at center and Acciari on the right wing.
“It hasn’t been working the last few games, so change it around,” Huberdeau said pre-game. “It never hurts. I think we’ve just got to come in and keep it simple, work as hard as we can and get the win.”
Huberdeau’s line got it done.
It gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead barely a minute into the second period on Acciari goals. Huberdeau’s backhanded pass set up Acciari’s slap shot just to the left of the net for that second goal.
“I don’t know how he saw me,” Acciari said. “He’s special with the puck, and he can find guys backdoor, probably one of the best in the league. I’ll stand there all day if I have to.”
It was the start of a five-goal second period, the 10th time in franchise history with that many goals in a 20-minute set.
Barkov added a power-play goal, Acciari closed out his hat trick, and Matheson and Dominic Toninato each scored in the final five minutes of the period to complete the scoring. The Panthers (16-12-5) played through a scoreless third period to seal the win.
“It was good,” Huberdeau said. “The second period sometimes we have some letdowns, so it was really good to get a lot of goals then and after that in the third period we kind of shut down a little bit. It was a good team effort.”
And Huberdeau, on another milestone-filled night, helped lead the charge.
“He’s got a lot of years left,” Quenneville said, “ and a lot of points to come, as well.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 12:08 PM.
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