Florida Panthers ‘feel pretty confident’ after strong road trip. What went right?
The Florida Panthers appear to be turning a corner, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Just two weeks ago, they were in last place in the Eastern Conference, trying to find any semblance of a consistent game while playing with a roster riddled with injuries.
The roster now more or less remains the same outside of getting forward Eetu Luostarinen back from a three-week absence after burning his feet in a freak barbecuing accident.
But the level of play has increased.
The results have come with it.
Florida has gone 5-1-1 in its past seven games. That included going 3-1-0 on its most recent road trip that ended with a 5-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Florida also beat the Utah Mammoth 4-3 and the Dallas Stars 4-0 on that road trip. The lone blemish? A 6-2 loss to the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche on the second night of a back-to-back.
Overall, this run has vaulted Florida back up in the division standings. At 17-13-2 and with 36 points, Florida is now just three points behind the Lightning and Detroit Red Wings (both 18-12-3, 39 points) for first place in the Atlantic and two points behind the Montreal Canadiens (17-11-4, 38 points) and Boston Bruins (19-14-0, 38 points) for third place in the division.
“We feel pretty confident in our game right now,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said.
And they should be because everything looks to be coming together despite still being without a slew of key contributors — namely captain Aleksander Barkov and star winger Matthew Tkachuk.
▪ The Panthers’ top forwards are all producing now. Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart have been steady from the start, with a combined 36 goals and 67 points between them. But the likes of Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell have picked up the scoring pace as of late to each hit double-digit goal totals and round out the handful of players Florida was relying on most to fill the void left by Barkov and Tkachuk.
Verhaeghe has six goals in his past seven games and 16 points in his past 10. Bennett has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 12 games after having just seven through the first 19 games of the season. And Lundell has goals in four of the past six games.
Florida is one of four teams in the NHL and the only Eastern Conference team with a league-high five players with at least 10 goals. Utah, Colorado and the Anaheim Ducks are the others.
▪ The penalty kill has been excellent. The Panthers went a perfect 14 for 14 on the PK during the road trip and has allowed just one power-play goal in 27 tries over the month of December.
In that span, Florida has also scored a pair of shorthanded goals. The Panthers’ four total shorthanded goals this year are tied for the fifth-most in the NHL.
▪ The defense is locking down late. In their past four wins, the Panthers allowed just 23 total shots on goal in the third period, with Florida outscoring opponents 5-1 in the final frame of those contests.
▪ And Sergei Bobrovsky is finding a rhythm in net. The veteran goaltender has won each of his past four starts and had a .932 save percentage (68 saves on 73 shots against) in three starts on the road trip. This included a 15-save shutout against the Stars on Saturday.
When all of these factors are clicking, the Panthers are a tough team to beat even when they have key players sidelined. They reminded the NHL of that this past week.
Next up: A three-game homestand against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday (7 pm., Scripps Sports), Carolina Hurricanes on Friday (7 p.m., Scripps Sports) and St. Louis Blues on Saturday (6 p.m., Scripps Sports).
Injury news
Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling left Tuesday’s game against the Lightning early in the third period after blocking a shot off his left arm from Nikita Kucherov. Maurice did not have an immediate update on Forsling’s status.
Forsling has 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) in 32 games this season while averaging about 22 minutes of ice time per game on Florida’s top defense pair with Ekblad.
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