With wins in 7 of past 10 games, are the Florida Panthers finally figuring things out?
Paul Maurice started to sense a shift happening about three weeks ago. His Florida Panthers had just been shut out by the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 30 — the first time the Panthers had gone scoreless in a regular-season game in nearly two years. The team had a sub-.500 points percentage, and things were starting to look bleak for Maurice’s team less than halfway through his first season in South Florida.
And then, something clicked.
“In January, we just started playing harder,’’ Maurice said. “It is simple as that. ... Everything is getting better.”
The results are coming with it.
The Panthers have won seven of their past 10 games, most recently a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in which the team played the majority of the game short-handed. They are riding a five-game points streak heading into their final road trip before the All-Star break — a back-to-back against the Rangers on Monday and Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
And, at 23-20-5, they have clawed their way back to the outskirts of playoff contention, sitting three points behind the Penguins (albeit with Pittsburgh having two games in hand) for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot entering Sunday.
There is still a push that needs to be made, though, and this next week — four games against four teams currently in the Stanley Cup Playoff field (Florida hosts the Los Angeles Kings on Friday and Boston Bruins on Saturday) — is their final test before a week-long break.
“The challenge is only growing with the teams we have left,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “Just to kind of build on that momentum is important.”
Florida’s win over Minnesota on Saturday might best epitomize the team’s growth over the past month.
The team played essentially the entire game without defenseman Aaron Ekblad and the final half without center Sam Bennett due to upper-body injuries, two separate extended stretches without defensemen Gustav Forsling (injury in second period) and Brandon Montour (10-minute game misconduct in the third) and had third-string goaltender Alex Lyon in net for a second consecutive game.
How did the game play out? Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period on goals from Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Minnesota cut Florida’s lead to one three separate times on two power-play goals and a six-on-five goal. Florida responded with a goal of its own each time — Carter Verhaeghe on the power play late in the second period to make it 3-1, Forsling midway through the third to make it 4-2 and Reinhart with an empty-netter in the final seconds to seal the 5-3 final score.
“There’s no panicking going on,” Maurice said.
Lyon, meanwhile, once again stood tall in net while filling in for Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight. He stopped 29 of 32 shots that came his way against Minnesota one game after making 23 saves on 25 attempts after coming in for Bobrovsky two minutes into Florida’s win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
“His personality is what you see in the net,’’ Maurice said. “He’s scrambling, he’s fighting for pucks. Every time he makes a save the bench goes crazy. It seems to be right now, very possibly, the energy that we need. ... A guy like that, playing the way he’s playing, it’s the perfect time for him to come in doing what he’s doing.”
Lyon will most likely be back in net on Monday against the Rangers for the front end of the Panthers’ road back-to-back. Florida’s hope is that Knight, who is currently with AHL Charlotte on a conditioning stint, will be back with the team for Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh.
Maurice said Bobrovsky will skate on his own Sunday and could possibly be available for one of the team’s home back-to-back games against the Kings and Bruins over the weekend.
As for the other injuries, Maurice anticipates both Ekblad and Bennett could be available Monday against the Rangers.
This story was originally published January 22, 2023 at 10:00 AM.
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