Marchment hat trick, Brunette’s creative coaching lead Panthers to blowout in Minnesota
The two-week All-Star break has not slowed down the Florida Panthers.
If anything, they’ve looked even better than ever in their first two games since the 2022 NHL All-Star Game.
On Friday, they faced one of the NHL’s best teams for the second time in three nights and dismantled the Minnesota Wild for a 6-2 road win.
”It’s nice to be back, it’s nice to compete with the guys again,” goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said, “and it’s another big win for us.”
It was a complete effort for the Panthers (34-10-5) and, considering the opponent and the location, one of their most impressive victories of the season. They displayed their depth, getting a hat trick from third-line left wing Mason Marchment. Their star power delivered with All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau notching his 50th assist and 51st assists of the season, and James Norris Memorial Trophy-contending defenseman Aaron Ekblad scoring a power-play goal for a 4-1 lead in the third. They also put together a second straight excellent defensive effort against one of the best teams in the NHL, shutting out the Wild (30-13-3) at even strength and getting a strong 24-save performance from Bobrovsky.
Even interim coach Andrew Brunette, in his return to the city where he became a fan favorite, showed off how valuable he has been to the Panthers, as it was his decision to stick Huberdeau and star center Aleksander Barkov together for an offensive-zone faceoff in the second period, which led to Huberdeau setting up winger Anthony Duclair to give Florida a two-goal cushion in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Panthers are now 2-0-0 since returning from a two-week All-Star break with both wins coming on the road against top-10 teams in the league standings. With 16 wins in their last 20 games, they lead the Eastern Conference and now sit just one point back of the league-leading Colorado Avalanche in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
On Wednesday, it took a last-minute comeback in Raleigh, North Carolina, to stun the Carolina Hurricanes. On Friday, Florida needed another comeback, only it was complete before the end of the first period.
The Wild, aided by two penalties, controlled the first half of the first period , outshooting the Panthers, 9-2, in the first nine minutes and scoring on its second power-play opportunity when star winger Kirill Kaprizov scored from the doorstep off a perfect pass by Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon.
With 9:58 left in the first period, Marchment and the third line started the turnaround. A Wild giveaway behind the net gave Marchment a chance for a wraparound shot. Minnesota goaltender Cam Talbot made the first save, but Marchment stuck with it and eventually poked the puck home to knot the score at 1-1.
Less than three minutes later, Marchment scored again off two pretty passes by forwards Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart to put Florida ahead for good 2-1 with 7:32 left in the first.
“We’ve said it a ton of times before: We just read off each other pretty well and just try to get open for each other,” Marchment said. “Tonight was a great night.”
The Panthers outshot the Wild, 7-0, in the final 10 minutes of the first period and finished with a 34-26 edge in shots on goal.
In the final two periods, their lead swelled, with Brunette making one savvy move in the middle of the second to give Florida its multi-goal cushion.
Minnesota spent a good chunk of the early part of the game honoring Brunette, who played six seasons with the Wild and scored a series-winning goal in overtime of Game 7 in a 2003 postseason series. The 18,300 at the Xcel Energy Center gave the coach an ovation in the first period when the big screen played a video of Brunette’s signature moment and the arena even played “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto” early in the second period in an apparent nod to Brunette’s nickname.
With 12:07 left in the period, Talbot covered up a shot by Barkov and the game took a pause for a television timeout. With an extra moment to rest, Brunette left his top line on the ice for an offensive-zone faceoff, only he added Huberdeau in place of fellow forward Carter Verhaeghe at left wing.
Although Barkov lost the faceoff, Florida got the puck back quickly and Ekblad took a shot from the point. Huberdeau tried to deflect it past Talbot and instead wound up with it behind the net, where he could pick out Duclair on the right wing for a one-timer and 3-1 lead. He went to this grouping a few other times in the final two periods and the alternate top-line trio outshot the Wild, 2-0, in its 1:13 together.
“I like to do it time to time, just a lot of times off of stoppages or icings and get them out together. They play so well together,” Brunette said. “It’s just better for our team to be four lines deep there, but, yeah, they’re two special players and when they get out there together they’re pretty dangerous.”
With 18:29 remaining, Ekblad cashed in on a power play and it was enough to keep the Minnesota at bay even after it scored on another power play 8:01 later.
Desperate, Wild coach Dean Evason pulled Talbot for an extra skater with 7:12 left and Verhaeghe and Marchment each scored empty-net goals to seal the win.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 10:37 PM.
