How ‘playing the mind games’ has helped Panthers’ Anton Lundell win faceoffs
There are so many intricacies that go into a successful faceoff. There’s the reaction time as soon as the puck is dropped. There’s the swift motion of the stick to get the puck in your possession. There’s the understanding of the game situation, knowing where your teammates are and what needs to be done as soon as possession is gained.
“And then you start playing the mind games,” Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell said.
Lundell has learned over the years just how important faceoffs are as a center.
He also learned over the years that they are just as much — and sometimes even more — of a mental battle as it is a physical battle.
Any advantage that can be gained needs to be taken. That includes, yes, getting inside the opponent’s head.
“You see somebody takes draws one way but the next time he takes it another way,” Lundell said. “You try to show something, and then you change it at the last second. It’s an important part of hockey for sure.”
And Lundell is thriving at that part of it when the Panthers need him to the most.
With captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov likely out for the season after undergoing ACL and MCL surgery following a right knee injury in training camp, Lundell has been thrust into Florida’s No. 1 center role this season after spending his first four seasons primarily handling the Panthers’ third line.
“If he’s going to go down,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Barkov, “this was the year that we had a chance of surviving it because of Anton.”
So far, so good.
Lundell, who has been called “Baby Barky” almost ever since Florida selected him 12th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, has held his own playing regularly against the opponent’s top players, with the 24-year-old on pace to set career highs across the board.
And that includes being proficient in the all-important faceoff circle.
Entering Florida’s game against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, Lundell has won 54.4% of his faceoffs entering Saturday, just shy of his career-high of 54.9% set in 2023-24 despite taking far more draws this season.
Lundell has already taken 362 draws — 14th most in the NHL — through 20 games. It puts him on pace to take 1,484 over a full 82-game season. That would be well above career-high of 1,023 taken last year. His 54.4% win rate is eighth among the 19 players with at least 350 draws taken, including having the fifth-best rate of winning draws in the offensive zone (57.1%) and defensive zone (56.4%).
Lundell always strove to be good at faceoffs. Coaches growing up and his dad, Jan Lundell, reiterated the importance of that facet of the game growing up.
“That’s how you get more ice time,” Lundell said. “That’s how you get to play more. You play with the puck more when you start with the puck.”
“I’ve always tried to be great on faceoffs, be a guy who’s a trusted player who the coach can put in any situation out there,” Lundell added. “Obviously I know Barky is not playing. It gives me a little opportunity to take even more draws, so of course it’s something I want to do well because I want to help the team and I want to show myself I’m ready to be that guy.”
He’s earned the trust from Maurice, and that came even before having to be relied on as “that guy” this season following Barkov’s injury.
Over the past three years, opponents would try to manipulate matchups at key points in the game to where their top lines would go up against Lundell’s line.
More often than not, Lundell’s line succeeded in the smaller sample sizes. He’s an adept two-way center who puts heavy value on the defensive side of his game just like Barkov — who Lundell grew up idolizing in Finland.
Now, he gets those matchups full-time.
“He’s going to play against the other team’s best at home,” Maurice said. “It’s his first time on the first-unit power play, and he’s first off the bench on the penalty kill. He will also then see the top-pairing D instead of the second set of D. This is a great year for him to see what it’s like to truly be a number one center. And he’s been really good with it. He’s produced numbers. He’s been really strong defensively. This is a great year for him.”
Lundell is averaging nearly 19-and-a-half minutes of ice time per game this season entering Saturday. He entered the season averaging just about 16 minutes per game in his career.
He has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists), which puts him on pace for 21 goals, 45 assists and 66 points — all of which would be career highs (18 goals in 2021-22; 28 assists and 45 points in 2024-25).
The Panthers are controlling 52.3 percent of shot attempts, outshooting opponents 123-108 and have a 13-12 goals advantage when Lundell is on the ice at five-on-five.
“His all-around game, we knew how good he could be,” defenseman Niko Mikkola said. “He’s got the tools to do that. And the past couple of years, he’s been huge for us. Barky is out, so he needs to step up and fill his role a little bit. He’s been great.”
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