With aggressive defense and nonstop effort, Panthers finally find ‘identity’ in playoffs
There was a vision of what these Florida Panthers, formerly freewheeling and usually doomed once the Stanley Cup playoffs began, could be if they found a coach and a few more players committed to play with a bit more defense, and with a bit more structure.
At the start of their latest come-from-behind win Thursday in Canada, the Panthers realized everything they could be. Sam Reinhart dumped the puck from the blue line rather than try to force a transition play, Eetu Luostarinen slammed into Timothy Liljegren behind the net to keep the Toronto Maple Leafs from cleanly gaining possession, Reinhart pounced on the loose puck and made a slick backhand pass to the front of the goal, and Anton Lundell finished to ignite another Florida comeback.
There was the intelligence and the physicality Paul Maurice preaches, and the creativity and playmaking the Panthers always had. It all came together in one instant then, but also over and over again throughout the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs to get Florida into the unlikely position it’s in now.
“For stretches of that game,” superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk said Thursday, “we played exactly the way we want to play.”
Lundell’s first-period tally started the comeback from two goals down and the Panthers rallied to beat the Maple Leafs, 3-2, in Toronto and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their second-round series with the Stanley Cup contenders.
The next two, which came in the span of 47 seconds in the first 1:06 of the second period, were similarly complete efforts. On both, Florida’s aggressive forecheck led to a takeaway at the edge of the offensive zone — once by right wing Anthony Duclair and once by Luostarinen — and turned into a skillful goal within six seconds.
For the first, right wing Anthony Duclair stole the puck at the blue line and handed it off to All-Star Aleksander Barkov, who twisted the game-tying goal through traffic from the top of the left face-off circle. For the second, Luostarinen blocked a clear and eventually the puck wound up with Tkachuk, who zipped a pass through the slot to defenseman Gustav Forsling for the game-winning goal in a fifth straight victory.
“We’re just trying to play to our identity,” Tkachuk said. “What makes us successful is getting in on the forecheck, getting a bump, trying to get the puck back and try to have the puck on our sticks all night.”
In their two games at Scotiabank Arena, the Panthers combined for 89 hits and forced 30 giveaways. On this five-game winning streak, they averaged 39.8 hits per game and forced an average of 14.4 giveaways.
“It’s what we’re built to do,”Maurice said Thursday. “We have these kind of players. We’re really good at this.”
Tkachuk’s line with Bennett — no matter who the left wing has been; right now, it’s forward Nick Cousins — has set the tone. They usually start, and Tkachuk had nine hits in Game 1 and Bennett had 10 in Game 2. General manager Bill Zito traded star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau, star defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and a first-round pick to the Flames for Tkachuk in the offseason because he expected the All-Star winger to do exactly what he’s doing now.
At the same time, Maurice has spent much of this week hyping up the Luostarinen-Lundell-Reinhart line, which was reunited ahead of Game 5 in Round 1, coinciding exactly with the moment the Panthers flipped their series with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins. Although Florida has been outshot when those three have been on the ice together for 5-on-5 play in the last two weeks, the Panthers have outscored opponents 3-1 — and 3-0 in the last four games — despite taking 31 defensive-zone faceoffs and only 21 in the offensive zone.
In all, Luostarinen, Lundell and Reinhart have combined for 31 hits, 11 takeaways, 23 shots and 24 scoring chances in the last five games.
“It’s playoffs. You have to play that way,” Lundell said Thursday. “It feels like we’ve been able to find a game that works right now and we just need to keep going.”
For more than a week, two of the best teams in the NHL haven’t been able to solve it, even though Florida had to play five games in five days, with three in elimination situations and four on the road.
Now, the Panthers get two days off before they come back home to South Florida to play Game 3 on Sunday at FLA Live Arena and then they’ll have two more days off before Game 4 on Wednesday in Sunrise.
It has all set up nicely for the Panthers. Game 2 should have been the chance for the Maple Leafs to stop them, when they finally ran out energy and adrenaline, especially after they fell behind 2-0 in just 5:10.
Instead, Florida, which has now realized its best path to victory is to play with relentless effort and reckless abandon, will get to refresh and play in front of a home crowd with a chance to move on to the NHL Conference Finals.
“Two days is going to be good for us. We had a two-day block after Game 4 in the Boston series. We needed it,” Maurice said. “For a forechecking team, a little bit of rest helps. ... We need to keep this team fresh.”
