Anton Lundell, ‘a blank canvas of a player, but a skilled player,’ symbolic of Panthers’ run
The focal points when telling the story of the Florida Panthers’ remarkable playoff run — and rightfully so — have centered on Matthew Tkachuk’s dominance and Sergei Bobrovsky’s stellar play in net when the team needed it the most.
But don’t discount the play of one of the Panthers’ burgeoning players in Anton Lundell as he comes into his own during his second playoff run.
Lundell had his share of ups and downs during his second NHL season, not unlike the Panthers as a whole throughout the regular season.
But the 21-year-old center seems to be peaking at the right time, putting his two-way play on full display as the Panthers continue their improbable run through the Stanley Cup playoffs.
After being held off the score sheet for each of Florida’s first five games, Lundell has at least one point in four of the past five games — including three multipoint efforts — heading into the Panthers’ Game 4 matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday at FLA Live Arena.
This included scoring Florida’s first goal in the first period of their 3-2 win against Toronto in Game 2 on Thursday to cut the Panthers’ deficit to a goal and tallying assists on each of their their game-winning goals the past two games — a secondary assist on Gustav Forsling’s go-ahead goal just over a minute into the second period in Game 2 and setting up Sam Reinhart for his overtime winner in their 3-2 win in Game 3 on Sunday.
“There might not be a better example of the change this team had to go through than Anton Lundell,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said ahead of the second-round series. “He’s so young. He’s a blank canvas of a player — but a skilled player.”
Lundell’s six assists in the playoffs are tied with Carter Verhaeghe for third on the team, behind only All-Stars Matthew Tkachuk (10) and Aleksander Barkov (7).
The Panthers have outscored opponents 6-1 in five-on-five action with Lundell on the ice in those five games — the final two against Boston and the first three against Toronto — with Florida also having a 37-26 edge in shots on goal and 36-24 advantage in scoring chances.
Lundell also plays on the power play and penalty kill and is averaging nearly 16-and-a-half minutes of ice time per playoff game while centering Florida’s third line with Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen on the wings.
This come after a regular season that saw Lundell struggle to consistently produce points. He had just 12 goals and 21 assists through 73 games after putting up 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in 65 games as a rookie a year ago.
“It’s been a long grind,” Lundell said, speaking of the team’s journey in a way that also described his individual journey this season. “The grind has made us stronger. We’ve been facing hard times together. We’ve been batting through them. ... The first round was really hard. Every game so far has been really tight, really hard, so it says a lot about our team that we’re able to turn tight games to our advantage.”
Now, the Panthers are riding six consecutive wins and are one win from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for just the second time in franchise history.
“Doesn’t get much better,” Lundell said with a grin.
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