‘He’s the best player in the world’: Barkov’s short-handed heroics lift Panthers into 1st
Those left in the BB&T Center were still buzzing when Sergei Bobrovsky’s face flashed across the big screen to break down what had just happened for the Florida Panthers to complete another comeback and beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-3, in the final game of the first half. Cheers rose from whatever was left of the 4,512 in attendance as the goaltender talked through it all — the two goals in 62 seconds in the second period, the perfect 4-for-4 performance on the penalty kill — and they peaked when the discussion shifted to Aleksander Barkov.
“I think,” the goaltender told Fox Sports Florida, “he’s the best player in this league, in the world.”
It was Barkov who capped the Panthers’ latest bit of comeback wizardry in South Florida, who helped finish off their perfect run on the power play and who capped the game with the sort of end-to-end play only he can make.
With less than seven minutes to go in a 3-3 game, the star center helped clear the zone on a Blackhawks power play, corralled a puck in the neutral zone and dashed down the ice to win the game for Florida. A rebound goal with 6:42 remaining — at the end of a play he created with his two-way play — gave the Panthers (19-5-4) another victory and vaulted them into first place in the Central Division at the halfway point of this shortened 2020-21 NHL season.
“Pretty much every shift,” star defenseman Aaron Ekblad said, “guys are left with their jaws hanging on the floor.”
For the fourth time Monday, Florida stared down Chicago’s potent power play. The Blackhawks (14-11-5) entered this two-game set in Sunrise with the third best power-play unit in the NHL, in terms of percentage, and the Panthers stopped all four of their chances to win Saturday. On Monday, they did the same and won the game by scoring short-handed on Chicago’s last extra-man opportunity.
Florida went a man down with 6:49 left and Noel Acciari won a faceoff in the defensive zone. The Panthers got out of the zone and Barkov wound up near the center of the ice with space to play with.
Just minutes earlier, Florida was in the middle of its third power play when Barkov saw the same sort of chance developing. He danced near the blue line to kill time. He slithered his way down the boards. Finally, he zipped a pass across the ice to MacKenzie Weegar, who put a shot on star goaltender Kevin Lankinen to force a faceoff in the Blackhawks’ end of the ice.
Barkov raced down the right side of the ice again, with Acciari to his left and Weegar trailing the play. Acciari crashed to the net. Weegar stalked the blue line. Barkov whipped another pass across the ice to the defenseman, who did the same thing he did three minutes earlier. This time, Lankinen couldn’t hold on to the puck.
Acciari dug at twice, then three times. Barkov rushed in. His poke finally pushed the puck over the line. The Panthers, who had once trailed 3-1, took a 4-3 lead.
“You’ve got to keep your head up and see those plays,” Barkov said. “Today, they worked.”
Weegar echoed Bobrovsky: “I think he’s the best player in the world.”
Barkov finished with one goal, two assists, five shots on goal and a blocked shot, and he won 71 percent of his faceoffs. He played on the power play and helped generate a goal there. He played on the penalty kill and generated the game-winning goal there.
In the final game of the first half, Barkov made his best argument yet to be in the Hart Memorial Trophy conversation.
“At the halfway point,” coach Joel Quenneville said, “he’d be in the top three for me.”
A period earlier, he also delivered Florida its game-tying goal with his vision.
The Panthers, who now lead the league with 12 wins after giving up the first goal, trailed 1-0 on Monday, then tied the game and then fell behind 3-1 in the second period. In all of 62 seconds, Florida erased another multi-goal deficit.
First, Ekblad scored, lining up a snap shot from the left faceoff circle to cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2 with 5:02 left in the period. Barely a minute later, Gustav Forsling tied the game off a feed by Barkov.
The forward won a loose puck on the boards and shuffled his way out of traffic near the right faceoff circle. The Blackhawks’ defense bent his way and he surveyed the ice to find Forsling all alone at the blue line. Another perfect cross-ice pass to a defenseman set up the game-tying goal with four minutes left in the second.
In the third, the Panthers played back in their end against two more Chicago power plays. While Barkov prowled and looked for a chance to strike, he and the penalty kill finished off a flawless two games against the Blackhawks.
Bobrovsky stopped all four shots he saw on the penalty and saved 26 of the 29 he saw in the entire game before Barkov finally finished off Florida’s fifth multi-goal comeback of the season.
“We’re just a different team this year,” Weegar said. “We’ve matured a lot.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 9:34 PM.
