What to make of the Panthers’ power-play struggles as road trip woes continue

Even though it came up empty — like so many power-play opportunities before it — interim coach Andrew Brunette saw some positives the first time the Florida Panthers went on the man advantage Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After Aleksander Barkov won the open faceoff, Jonathan Huberdeau’s first shot fired off the top crossbar. Seconds later, Aaron Ekblad sent a wrist shot from the point that Tristan Jarry stuffed. Patric Hornqvist, camped out in front of the net, corralled the rebound and sent another shot off the goalpost.

Three quality chances in 20 seconds.

Hornqvist then had two more chances to stuff the puck past Jarry later in the two-minute window with an extra skater to no avail.

“We did some things in the first one tonight I liked,” Brunette said, “but it could be better.”

That’s where the coach’s lauding of the power play ends.

The Panthers went 0 for 4 on the power play in their 3-2 shootout loss to the Penguins, their third consecutive defeat on this road trip that started with regulation losses to the New York Rangers on Monday and the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. They close their road trip Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This included having a 4-on-3 advantage for the final 1:31 of overtime after Jake Guentzel crashed into Bobrovsky and was called for interference.

But the power-play struggles extend beyond just this one game. The Panthers (10-2-2) have scored on 21.7 percent of their power plays — 10 for 46 — but are 0 for 8 with an extra skater in their current three-game skid.

Half of their 10 power-play goals have come in two games — two against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 25 and three against the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 6. Remove those two games, and the Panthers have scored on five of 38 power-play chances — a 13.2 percent success rate, better than only the Vegas Golden Knights (10.7 percent), Penguins (10 percent), Coyotes (9.7 percent) and Seattle Kraken (9.3 percent).

The lackluster results are surprising considering the offensive firepower the Panthers roll out on the power play. Their top unit generally consists of Barkov, Huberdeau, Hornqvist, Ekblad and one of Sam Reinhart or Sam Bennett.

“I think I have had concerns all year with it,” said Brunette, who coaches the power play. “It just seems to be a little out of sync or it’s not quite as smooth. We’re trying to work through some of the familiarities and the different units, but it has been a little stagnant.”

This and that

▪ Bobrovsky on the collision with Guentzel late in overtime: “I saw him in the very last moment and I was able to absorb the hit. It’s a hockey play. I don’t think he meant to do it. I’m fine.”

▪ The Panthers have played five games beyond regulation this year. They are 3-0 when the game is decided in the five-minute overtime period and 0-2 when the game goes to a shootout.

▪ With his third-period goal, Aleksander Barkov is on an eight-game point streak. He has scored seven goals and tallied three assists in that span. He is tied for 10th in the NHL entering Friday with 15 points this season.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

305-376-2129

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.