What Panthers’ Lundell took away from first playoff game. And Florida’s plan for Game 2
Tuesday was a moment Anton Lundell had been waiting for during his hockey career.
The result, however, was far from what he and the Florida Panthers desired.
Lundell made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut in the Panthers’ 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of their first-round matchup at FLA Live Arena. Florida’s ballyhooed 20-year-old rookie was on the ice for 13 minutes and 4 seconds while centering the Panthers’ third line with Mason Marchment and Sam Reinhart on the wings.
“It was a big, big moment for me,” Lundell said Wednesday. “You always grow up watching the playoffs. You see teams win and it’s something you think about playing one day.”
Lundell individually and the Panthers collectively hope the winning that had become commonplace for them in the regular season can start to become commonplace in the playoffs.
Tuesday was a step in the wrong direction after top-seeded Florida gave up three unanswered goals in the third period to drop the opener of their best-of-7 series matchup against the eighth-seeded Capitals. Game 2 is Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Lundell quickly noticed the difference between regular-season hockey and playoff hockey on Tuesday — “It’s more hits, more physical plays,” he said — and is ready to make adjustments heading into Game 2.
“We just want to be better as a team,” said Lundell, who scored 18 goals and added 26 assists over 65 regular-season games.
That starts with the Panthers minimizing the self-inflicted mistakes that hindered them in the series opener. Florida had two penalties in the first two minutes Tuesday, with Washington scoring its first goal right as its first round of power-play action was set to expire, and took five penalties overall. Sloppiness with the puck led to the Panthers giving up the game-tying and go-ahead goals in the span of two-and-a-half minutes midway through the third period.
“You learn from them and you move on,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “There’s lots of things that we could have done better, but that’s the game. It’s a game of adjustments. We’ve got to do things a little differently and be a little bit more efficient.”
That includes tightening down on defense, establishing puck possession and finding a way to break through against a Capitals team that clogged the neutral zone.
The Panthers’ high-octane offense was outshot 38-32 and limited to 23 scoring chances and eight high-danger chances. Florida had just two rush attempts on the Capitals at even strength against Washington goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
“Definitely want more shots on net and more traffic,” winger Anthony Duclair said. “You want to make it harder on their goalie. I think it was a little bit too easy on him [Tuesday] night.”
More from Brunette
▪ If anything the Capitals did in Game 1 surprised him: “I don’t think anything surprised us. ... We had trouble getting that last goal to put it away or to give us a two- or three-goal cushion. I thought we had some looks and then I thought we had some momentum swings. We had some poor [line] changes and some breakdowns in the defensive zone that gave them a little momentum.”
▪ On going back to a four-forward, one-defenseman power play look with Aaron Ekblad’s return after using a five-forward formation in Ekblad’s absence: “I thought parts of it moved pretty well, but we have the option of going five forwards if need be. We’ll kind of make those decisions as we go.”
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