Fan-favorite forward Ryan Lomberg has found his ‘mojo.’ The Panthers say it’s no fluke
In the Florida Panthers’ dressing room, Ryan Lomberg has always had the nickname “Lomberghini,” an ode to his deceptive speed and relentless engine during play and whenever a fight breaks after one.
Lately, his teammates have given him a new name: “Lomberdeau,” as in Jonathan Huberdeau, the player whose 94 points are third most in the NHL this season.
“I like them both, so I’ll go with ‘Lomberdeau’ today,” Lomberg told Bally Sports Florida on Thursday, and then went out and scored a fourth goal in his past three games.
Finally, the left wing has as many NHL goals — 11 — as he does fights.
This alchemy has made the 27-year-old Canadian one of the most popular players inside FLA Live Arena on any given night. He has a reputation mostly as a grinder, with five seasons spent in the American Hockey League before the Panthers finally gave him his first real NHL chance last season, and most everything about him is deceptive.
He’s 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds, yet he’s willing to fight anyone. He went undrafted and spent half a decade in the minors, yet he’s now one of the fastest skaters on the NHL’s most prolific offense. Until Thursday, he could count his NHL goals on his two hands, yet everyone around the team insists he’s a low-key sniper and he has played the part this week.
Look no further than his goal Thursday in Florida’s 4-0 rout of the Chicago Blackhawks: Lomberg started to skate back on defense when Joe Thornton came up with a takeaway and looked for someone in the neutral zone; Lomberg was the target, so the veteran forward fired a pass his way; Lomberg feinted to his left and the defense bit, then he twisted to his right and raced past Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan to get a breakaway, which he converted with a laser shot Chicago goaltender Collin Delia touched, but couldn’t stop.
It was his fourth goal in three games, and he also had an assist to go along with two goals Tuesday in the Panthers’ win against the Montreal Canadiens.
“He’s feeling it. He’s got a little mojo going and a little shimmy shake,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said Thursday. “No one loves to see him score more than I do. I think the bench gets a big kick out of it.”
As a reward for Lomberg’s incredible week, Brunette moved the winger up from the fourth line to second Thursday, putting him next to Huberdeau and All-Star forward Claude Giroux, and he might have earned the chance to stay there Saturday when Florida (46-15-6) faces the New Jersey Devils at 12:30 p.m. at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. In the 8:04 the new-look second line played together Thursday, the Panthers outshot the Blackhawks. Since the Devils (24-38-5) are another of the worst teams in the league, Saturday could be another good chance to experiment with Lomberg in a larger role.
He first got the chance in the second period Tuesday. After Lomberg scored twice in the first 27:57 against the Canadiens, Brunette used every offensive-zone faceoff in the second half of the second period as an opportunity to stick Lomberg with Huberdeau and star center Aleksander Barkov.
Although he couldn’t finish off the hat trick, Lomberg showed off his shooting ability with the two goals, scoring once on a one-timer at the end of an extended possession and his second on a 2-on-2 rush after defensive-zone giveaway by Montreal.
To punctuate the second goal, Lomberg pretended to fire an arrow into the crowd.
South Florida already loved him even when he wasn’t much more than the fiery agitator on the Panthers’ bottom line, who would occasionally deliver an unexpected flash of offensive brilliance. Now there’s a whole new side of Lomberg to love.
“He always had the skill, he always had the speed, and now he just has enough confidence to do it and to believe in himself,” Barkov said Thursday. “It’s a lot of fun to watch a guy like that. He’s super skilled. He can make those plays that he did on the goal. He has a sneaky great shot — you can’t really expect where it’s going — and, like anybody on our team, we’re really lucky to have him.”
