Barkov’s superstar-level play has Panthers on brink of (finally) advancing in playoffs
It was the biggest game of his career so far and Aleksander Barkov, after nearly a decade of waiting for this chance, rose to the occasion.
For the first eight seasons of his career, Barkov never really had a chance to take control of a postseason series like he could Wednesday — part of it is his own fault, but mostly because of a decade of roster-building blunders — and he didn’t let it go to waste, even when Florida Panthers fell behind by three goals in the first 24 minutes.
The Panthers needed less than eight minutes to erase the Washington Capitals’ lead and less than 17 to complete the comeback, and Barkov was the sort of two-way force Florida needed for it to happen.
“When he plays his best, he’s on pucks and stripping pucks, and you can’t get it off him and he takes it off you pretty easily,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “In the second and third period, he was very dominant.”
The comeback started on Barkov’s stick and ended with it, too. He was on the ice for four of the Panthers’ five goals — including three when they were either tied or trailing — and none of the Capitals’ three. He set up Carter Verhaeghe on his rally-starting second-period goal and teed up the forward for his game-winning goal in the third.
When Barkov was on the ice for 5-on-5 play, Florida commanded more than 70 percent of the possession and more than doubling Washington’s scoring chances. Now, for the first time, he will have a chance to lead the Panthers into the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday when he and Florida head to Capital One Arena in Washington for Game 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Up 3-2 in the series, Florida is one victory from advancing in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since they reached the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals in just their third season of existence.
The Panthers’ long track record of postseason futility means Barkov, who has lost far more playoff games than he has won and never made it out of the first round, can stake a claim as the best player in franchise history, with Florida’s career record for goals, and the second most assists and points in team history.
His postseason track record, which now consists of four trips to the playoffs, is underrated, too, with 19 points in 21 games — more than 0.90 points per game and not too far off from his career regular-season average of 0.93 points per game — and the scoring numbers never paint a full picture of his value.
His performance Wednesday did. In every meaningful 5-on-5 on-ice metric, Barkov was the best player in the game, leading the Panthers to massive possession and chance-creation advantages whenever he was in the game. The:
▪ shot attempts were 21-9,
▪ unblocked shot attempts were 19-7,
▪ shots on goal were 17-5,
▪ scoring chances were 14-6 and
▪ high-danger chances were 6-2.
He finished with two primary assists, a plus-minus of plus-4, five shots on goal and two hits, and went 9 of 15 on faceoffs.
“His faceoffs and his defensive presence was remarkable,” Brunette said.
In the series, Florida is outscoring Washington, 7-0, when Barkov is on the ice at 5-on-5 — the second-best mark in the Cup playoffs behind only defenseman Gustav Forsling, who’s at 9-0 — and he now has five points in five games, while leading the team with 21 shots on goal.
His first four games, however, were mixed. In 2 of 4, Florida gave up at least as many shots on goal as it generated while Barkov was on the ice and the Capitals had a significant edge in expected goals in Game 4 because of a 3-1 advantage in scoring chances.
His fifth was as good a game as he has ever played in the postseason.
With one more win, Barkov can fill one of the most glaring gaps he has on his resume. Florida hadn’t won three games in a playoff series since 2012 — up 3-2 on the New Jersey Devils then, it was the last time they led a series at all — so Barkov and Co. now step into unfamiliar territory. The Capitals will be desperate — they’re a No. 8 seed, but they have nine players left from their 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team — but Florida has completely swung the tenor of the series with back-to-back wins.
If they play the way they did in games 4 and 5, the Panthers know they will probably move on to Round 2.
“That’s our goal, to finish it off, but doing it the right way, playing the right way, playing the way we played most of this game and most of the last game,” Barkov said. “We just go a game at a time. We know we’re up right now, but we can’t really think too much ahead.”
Marchment out for Game 6
Winger Mason Marchment did not make the trip to Washington and will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury. He remains day to day, Brunette said.
Forward Maxim Mamin filled in for Marchment at left wing on Florida’s third line in Game 5 and he’ll be an option once again for Game 6, although Brunette did not commit to a replacement.
Veteran forward Joe Thornton is another possibility.
“Everybody’s on the table and with his experience it could be helpful,” Brunette said. “We’re going to think about a few things. Everybody’s going to get a chance to play. Hopefully, we’ll have a long playoff run and we’ll need everybody at some point.”
