Panthers’ Barkov has high praise for Ryan Lomberg: ‘He can be a really good top-six player’
If the hockey gods were to build their ideal fourth-line forward, he might look something like Ryan Lomberg. The left wing checks just about all the boxes and has ever since the day the Florida Panthers signed him as a little-known free agent in 2020: He’s feisty and always looking for a chance to jump into a fight; he has the flowing hair and infectious smile of a fan favorite, and, his coach said, “he never shuts up;” he has an obvious physical flaw — in his case, his 5-foot-9 frame — and it ultimately made him unheralded at just about every turn in his career.
Something funny has happened in the last few months, though: Lomberg is no longer a fourth-line player. He hasn’t played on the bottom line since January and it has resulted in some of the best play of his career, particularly in the last week.
“He’s defined his game,” coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday. “I think he understands what he’s really good at and ... he’s eliminated all the other things that isn’t his game.”
Lomberg has played on the third line for 15 of the past 16 games — in the other, he actually logged top-line minutes — and notched five points, including a go-ahead goal in the first period to help the Panthers beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 2-1, on Tuesday. The goal was his ninth of the season, tying a career high, and he’s now only two points from matching a single-season career best for points, set last year when he recorded 18 in his bottom-line role.
The point production only tells part of the story, though. His lines, no matter who he has played with, have driven offensive production for Florida for more than a month now. In six straight games, the Panthers have at least matched their opponents in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Lomberg has been on the ice and Florida has doubled up its opponents in three of them. The Panthers have had more shot attempts than their opponents when Lomberg has been on the ice in nine of their last 15 games, all since he bumped up from the fourth line.
On Tuesday, it prompted some lofty praise from his captain.
“I think he can be a really good top-six player, too. His skill set is there and his work ethic,” All-Star center Aleksander Barkov said Tuesday. “He has a lot of potential, that guy. He’s not just a grinder. He can make pretty sick plays. You see that every practice. Every game, you see something from him that’s like, Wow.”
Most often, his awe-inspiring moments come with his once-underrated, now-obvious speed. On a team full of speedy wingers, Lomberg still manages to stand out, somewhere in the same class as right wing Anthony Duclair and left wing Carter Verhaeghe as the best straight-line skaters on the roster. He has always used it to create the occasional breakaway and now he’s also using it to start extended possessions, chasing pucks into the corners, where he has always held his own because of his willingness to get physical.
Although he’s now playing next to forwards Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell, Lomberg played several games next to six-time All-Star forward Eric Staal earlier during his promotion and their chemistry was particularly effective at unlocking new aspects of Lomberg’s game.
“Staal had a lot to do with bringing that out in him,” Maurice said. “Eric would touch the puck, he wants Lombo to go. I’ll put it into a hole for you, I’ll get it there.”
His goal Tuesday showcased a different component of his game. On this play, he was a trailer, rather than the player leading the breakout, and he found a space in the defense to line up a twisting shot past Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill in the first five minutes.
“We needed a big start,” Lomberg said Tuesday.
His shooting ability has massively improved across the last two seasons, with his shooting percentage jumping from 4.3 percent in the 2020-21 NHL season to 9.3 percent in the last two.
Now, he leans into those two strengths — his speed and his shot — and has mixed it with an brawler’s mentality to become something more than just a fourth-line pest.
“He’s been repetitively successful with two or three really good things and now that’s who he is as a player,” Maurice said. “What every player in the NHL needs is a strength.”
