After frustrating road trip, Florida Panthers have ‘to get back in a groove’ at home
After a grueling five-game road trip through the Western Conference, the Florida Panthers return home largely in the same fundamental place they were when they left.
The Panthers took five points out of their five games out west, largely treading water for the nine days they spent outside South Florida.
On the whole, it should be a good result for the Panthers, who will now play five in a row in Florida — as long as they can finally start playing better at FLA Live Arena.
“We’ve got to take some confidence back to home ice,” forward Sam Reinhart said Tuesday after the Panthers ended their trip with a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets in Canada. “It seems like a few months ago we were back there. We’ve got to get back in a groove there.”
A year ago, the Panthers were the best home team in the NHL, winning 34 of 41 in Sunrise. So far this year, they’ve won just 5 of 8 and they’ll try to change their fortunes Thursday when they host the Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 p.m.
There’s a also hope they will get good news once they’re back home. Captain Aleksander Barkov missed the entire road trip with an illness and fellow center Anton Lundell missed the last two games with an illness, too.
Defenseman Radko Gudas, who got concussed in Florida’s rout of the Seattle Kraken on Saturday and didn’t play Tuesday, could also theoretically return sometime this week, whenever he clears concussion protocol. Right wing Patric Hornqvist, who also has a concussion, will miss at least nine more games after going on long-term injured reserve Monday.
Despite a losing road trip, the Panthers (12-10-4) return home to face the Red Wings (13-7-5) with real reason to believe a turnaround is coming. Ultimately, they played pretty well on the trip, with an even goal differential despite the losing record, and have reinforcements on the way to help start turning improved play into a tangible results.
Florida generated more high-danger chances in four of five games out west, including a 16-12 edge on the Jets in Winnipeg to start this week. The Panthers, with the fifth worth shooting percentage in the NHL at 8.9 percent entering Wednesday, are still just struggling to turn those chances into goals and the return of two top-six forwards should help.
“I thought we played well,” said forward Zac Dalpe, whom Florida called up from AHL Charlotte after putting Hornqvist on long-term IR. “Obviously, didn’t get the result, but pretty positive.”
Really, the loss felt typical for a team at the end of a long road trip: The Panthers, banged up after more than a week on the road, started slow — coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday they “were behind it about six inches for the most part ... in their legs” — and couldn’t muster any sort of comeback.
In a vacuum, it would be OK. Florida would be coming back home, where it could start stringing together wins to make up for some missed opportunities on the road, only the Panthers have yet to even win three in a row at any point this year.
At some point, they’ll have to start stringing wins together and now is as good a time as any.
