A look at the Florida Panthers’ power play. Plus injury updates on Mahura, Gadjovich
Through the first two months of the season, the Florida Panthers have excelled in many facets of their game. It’s why they are among the top teams in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference as a whole in the early goings.
One key area is still a work in progress: The power play.
The Panthers enter their game Wednesday against the Dallas Stars ranked 24th among 32 NHL teams with just a 17.5 percent success rate on the power play after finishing 10th in the NHL last season when they made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.
But the lack of success while playing with an extra skater isn’t due to a lack of effort.
According to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick, the Panthers lead the NHL this season in high-danger chances on the power play (71) and are in the top five in the league in shots on goal (tied for third, 145), total shot attempts (third 280), expected goals (fourth, 20.54), and total scoring chances (fifth, 151).
“Us offensive guys out there would like to see a few more go for the power play,” said Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk, who has yet to score on the power play this season after having 14 power play goals in the 2022-23 regular season. “That’s huge momentum for the team. I really think that’s going to come.”
Added coach Paul Maurice: “We’re getting an awful lot of chances. Then when you have a power play where it doesn’t go and you don’t get chances – because that happens – it looks ugly. You can’t enter or whatever. Then it’s really frustrating. The puck’s gotta go in the net. It doesn’t have to be the best part of your game. As a matter of fact, you’d prefer that your power play isn’t’ driving wins because there are other hard things you’ve got to do to be a good hockey team, but the power play has to take some pressure off your five-on-five game.”
The Panthers mixed and matched skaters on their power-play unit over the first six weeks of the season as they dealt with injuries to key players.
Now that the team is fully healthy, Florida is rolling with the same top unit it had at the end of last season and in the playoffs. That includes defenseman Brandon Montour with forwards Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour.
Between the regular season and the playoffs last season, that group of five scored nine power-play goals in about 63 minutes of game action together.
In six games played together this season, the group has seemingly gotten its chemistry back. They have outshot opponents 11-1 and produced seven high-danger chances in just 11 minutes and 22 seconds of ice time on the power play and have scored three goals. All three of those goals, however, came in the same game: Florida’s 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.
Florida has gone with three forwards (Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues) and two defensemen (Aaron Ekblad and Oliver Ekman-Larsson) on its second power-play unit.
“We were feeling good after the Ottawa game when we banged a couple early,” Montour said, adding the group will get better with “the more touches we get and the more familiar we get back with the same unit we had. ... Just keep that urgency up, creating chances, shooting the puck and getting in front of the goal.”
Injury updates
Defenseman Josh Mahura (lower body) and forward Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) were full participants in practice on Tuesday, putting Florida at full strength heading into Wednesday’s game against Dallas.
Mahura hasn’t played since sustaining his injury Nov. 16 against the Los Angeles Kings, while Gadjovich was a scratch on Saturday against the New York Islanders.
Maurice said Gadjovich is “ready to roll,” which sets him up with a decision on whether to play Gadjovich or Steven Lorentz on Florida’s fourth line along with Kevin Stenlund and Ryan Lomberg.
Mahura’s impending return, meanwhile, has the Panthers with eight defensemen for six spots on game day with the team also recalling Uvis Balinskis after a short stint with the Charlotte Checkers.
Maurice has said he doesn’t like to pull defensemen out of the lineup unless a benching is warranted., but he now has a case of trying to keep extra players fresh and game ready.
“I’ve also got two NHL defensemen sitting out that don’t deserve it to sit out,” Maurice said. “We’ll consider it a luxury and try to find different ways to maneuver through it.”
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