‘We’re in a tough spot’: Florida Panthers know margin for error is slim after Game 1 loss
Brett Connolly has played his fair share of Game 1s. Before he came to the Florida Panthers in the offseason, the winger spent three seasons with the Washington Capitals, which meant three years of postseason runs with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations. He even won a Cup with the Capitals in 2018.
Even after all those Stanley Cup playoffs series, Connolly knew Game 1 of the Panthers’ best-of-five qualifying-round series against the New York Islanders would be more important than any other he had played in.
“Being a best-of-five,” the 28-year-old Canadian said Friday, “I think Game 1 is much more important than a best-of-seven.”
Florida could feel it Saturday after it fell 2-1 to the Islanders at Scotiabank Arena. The Panthers struggled out of the gate, fell into a 1-0 hole with eight minutes left in the first period and trailed the rest of the way. Now their season could be over just five days after it resumed if they can’t bounce back and win either Tuesday or Wednesday.
“We’re in a tough spot,” coach Joel Quenneville said Saturday.
When the NHL modified its playoff format for the COVID-19 pandemic, it emphasized the importance of beginning the expanded postseason well. The best-of-five qualifying series began Saturday after teams went more than four months without playing a meaningful game. All they really had to get ready was a two-week postseason training camp, a few practices in Canada and one exhibition game, and then their postseason fates could be determined in as few as five days.
Florida felt good about its training camp. Once its exhibition against the Tampa Bay Lightning began Wednesday, those feelings were gone. A blowout, shutout loss prompted a new sense of urgency and Quenneville reshuffled his entire offensive lineup, hoping for a better start in the all-important first game against New York.
At least to start, there were no quick fixes. The Panthers didn’t even put a shot on net for the first 10 minutes of the game. It took five periods of live action inside the NHL’s Toronto “secure zone” for Florida to finally score when Jonathan Huberdeau found the back of the net in the third period Saturday. There were eventually positive signs to cling to, but the Panthers now only have two more chances to actually get something out of them.
“It’s a short series, so you have to have a short memory,” defenseman Riley Stillman said. “Obviously being best-of-five, the first game was a big one and that didn’t go our way, so to get that thing behind us and move forward, you’ve got to regroup here.”
The first period Saturday was ultimately mostly a waste for Florida. The Panthers committed three penalties in the first six minutes. Quenneville hoped reuniting Huberdeau and center Aleksander Barkov on the top line would reignite Florida’s offense, but they were barely on the ice for the first half of the first period because of those penalties. When the Islanders took a 1-0 lead with eight minutes left in the first, the Panthers had only taken two shots.
“We don’t want to be chasing them because their team is set up to kind of shut it down and try to keep the puck out of their net,” winger Frank Vatrano said. “They like to take away the middle of the ice. They like to have five guys tight at all times.”
Although Florida didn’t score until the opening minute of the third period, the Panthers felt best about the way they played in the second. It was the only time since they entered the bubble last Sunday they controlled the tempo of the game.
All throughout the scrimmage against the Lightning and the worst moments of Game 1, Florida was “one and done,” Barkov said. The Islanders’ tightly packed defense is designed to force opponents into short possessions and the Panthers needed more than half the game to finally start to crack New York.
With 10 minutes left in the second period, defenseman Keith Yandle fired a shot toward net and Islanders right wing Cal Clutterbuck blocked it. For the next 2:40, Florida played exclusively outside its own defensive zone, forcing Semyon Varlamov into five saves and New York into an additional four blocks.
It was the first positive building block for the Panthers inside of the Ontario bubble. They have to build from there quickly.
“We got better once the game went on and like second, third period we were good,” Barkov said Saturday. “Obviously, Game 2 starts from 0-0, so we’ve got to keep doing what we did in the second half of the game and keep getting better, keep building on that. We should be fine. We’re really excited and we’re really happy about our late push. Obviously, not the result we wanted, but we’re going to get better from this.”
