Panthers get their ‘swagger’ back with nine goals and a blowout of the rival Lightning
The Florida Panthers strutted and swaggered their way through most of the first half of the 2021-22 NHL season until suddenly, at the start of December, they didn’t anymore.
They had the best record in the NHL at the end of November, the best offense in the Eastern Conference, a handful of legitimate stars and arguably the deepest roster in the sport, yet they looked mortal — or maybe even worse — when they lost 4 of 5 in the final days before rising COVID-19 cases across the league prompted the season to pause last week. They were not themselves and hoped “a little reset,” as MacKenzie Weegar put it, would let them recapture the magic they had in the first few months of the season.
They certainly had it Thursday in their 9-3 beatdown of the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Sunrise
“We played a hell of a game,” All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau said. When we play with confidence, swagger — that’s our team. That’s our identity.”
The nine goals were the Panthers’ most in a game since 1997 and their most ever in a game against the rival Lightning. They scored with devastating moves on breakaways and by following up rebounds, on the power play and shorthanded. Winger Anthony Duclair twice danced around Tampa Bay goaltender Maxime Lagace in transition and Huberdeau, who had five points, dished out one of his assists on a spinning no-look pass. After star center Aleksander Barkov put Florida up 9-3 with 7:29 left, the 15,001 at FLA Live Arena spent most of the last seven minutes chanting, “We want 10! We want 10!”
After losing three in a row and 4 of 5 before the pause, the Panthers have won two in a row in the two days since their season resumed Wednesday, both against some of the best teams in the league.
“I really liked, I said last night, the resiliency of our group in the third period and I thought tonight,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said, “there was a little swagger. Some of the plays that were being made were pretty special.”
They started from the very beginning of the game. In the first three minutes, Duclair got loose for a breakaway and deked his way past Lagace to give Florida a quick 1-0 lead.
A little more than nine minutes later, Barkov rang the crossbar on a power play and Huberdeau tapped home another goal, then winger Frank Vatrano, who was a healthy scratch Wednesday, scored another when his shot hit off the post and he followed it up for a rebound goal.
It was the full package on display for Florida: Its stars made plays, its speed created goals and its depth gave it an extra edge.
“It’s all about having fun,” Huberdeau said. “We’re at our best when we’re doing that.”
In the first half of December, it was mostly impossible for the Panthers, who now have their first two-game winning streak since Dec. 4. Barkov and Duclair barely played because of injuries. A COVID outbreak sent seven players into protocol for Florida’s last game before the pause. It all took a toll and sent the Panthers plummeting to third place in the Atlantic Division. They needed the nine-day break — theirs actually wound up being 13 — as badly as anyone.
Florida was back at full strength Wednesday — so replete with options it could bench Vatrano — and rallied in the third period to beat the New York Rangers in its first game since Dec. 16. On Thursday, the Panthers were only missing forward Sam Bennett, who was out with an illness, and finally got their own break: The Lightning was missing its top two goaltenders, including star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, because of the coronavirus. Tampa Bay had to turn to Lagace to make just the 18th start of his career and only the fourth since he started 14 games for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017-18 NHL season.
Florida took full advantage of the inexperienced third-stringer. The Panthers scored three more goals in the third period and then three again in the third to come one goal shy of tying a single-game franchise record.
Huberdeau notched five points for the second time this season — every other player in the league has one combined. Duclair scored again in the third to take the team lead with 12 goals. In all, 16 of the 18 skaters to suit up for Florida on Thursday tallied at least one point and Vatrano, Barkov, and fellow centers Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell also added two.
The win, meanwhile, vaults the Panthers back into second place in the division and puts them just two points behind the Lightning with one fewer game played than their in-state rival.
Their losing streak feels like it was a long time ago because, at this point, it is. They weren’t themselves then. Now, they’re rejuvenated just in time for the calendar to flip to 2022.
“We’re not thinking about that anymore,” Barkov said of the pre-pause skid. “We’ve got everyone back, had a couple good practices during the break and now we’re playing some good hockey, but we know we can be better. We can build from this.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 9:50 PM.
