Florida Panthers start second half with new-look lineup, still searching for a turnaround
The Florida Panthers, well outside postseason position at the midpoint of the regular season, are making some changes to try to spark a turnaround in the second half.
As they opened the second half of the season against the defending-champion Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, the Panthers trotted out a new-look lineup at Ball Arena in Denver, reshuffling the top line to try to get better production from a handful of underachieving forwards.
Aleksander Barkov is on the top line as usual, but now he’s joined by Anton Lundell at left wing at Sam Reinhart on the right side.
“They can almost get out of it together,” coach Paul Maurice said Monday after testing out the revamped lineup at a practice at Dallas’ American Airlines Center.
Barkov entered Tuesday with just eight points in six games since returning from a lower-body injury — and five of those points came in his first game back last month against the lowly Montreal Canadiens. Lundell, who’s typically the center on the third line, hadn’t recorded a point since before Christmas, going seven straight games without a goal or assist. Reinhart only had two points in his prior eight games, too,
Last season, the centers were three of Florida’s best players, with Barkov and Reinhart both averaging more than a point per game, and Lundell leading all rookies with a plus-minus of plus-33. Now, on a bad team, none of them rank among the Panthers’ top three in points.
Lundell and Reinhart have been frequent linemates since both got to Florida last year, so there’s some built-in chemistry there. Neither, however, has ever quite clicked with Barkov and both have gotten ample chances: Reinhart started last season on the top line with Barkov before former coach Joel Quenneville quickly separated them and Lundell started this year on the same line as Barkov before Maurice quickly ditched the experiment, too.
This is a brand-new look, though. Barkov, Reinhart and Lundell had played just 1:01 together in 5-on-5 play since the start of last year, although Barkov and Lundell have been a rock-solid penalty killing tandem since Lundell debuted last season.
“We think the game very similar and I think that will help. He’s such a good player,” Lundell said Monday in Texas. “We’re just trying to build something and get the chemistry going.”
The hope is the Reinhart-Lundell and Barkov-Lundell connections can resurface, and ignite midseason turnarounds for all three.
The true top line, however, might be the Panthers’ No. 2. All-Star right wing Matthew Tkachuk is now paired with left wing Carter Verhaeghe and center Sam Bennett, which could also help Bennett get out of his snake-bitten funk. Tkachuk and Verhaeghe are Florida’s top two wingers, and Bennett’s underwhelming season, with just eight goals in the first half, is mostly a product of shooting just 6.6 percent — second worst among Panthers forwards to play at least 30 games, ahead of only Lundell.
“Verhaeghe, and Bennett and Tkachuk have had really, really strong games,” Maurice said.
The new third line, with Lundell now on the top line, has Eric Staal at center in between wingers Nick Cousins and Eetu Luostarinen. Staal, with 13 points in 18 games, moved up from the fourth line, which now has forward Colin White at center in between wingers Givani Smith and Ryan Lomberg.
“Just trying to balance that out a little bit,” Maurice said.
More importantly, it’s something new and Florida needs to try doing things differently in the second half of the season after plummeting from Presidents’ Trophy to the bottom third of the NHL standings in less than a year.
