If there’s one hole to the Panthers’ game right now it’s the penalty kill. Florida played a solid and tight 5v5 game against the Red Wings and absolutely shot themselves in the foot by not being able to kill penalties. A nice positive to take from this match is that the third line of Verhaeghe-Lundell-J. Boqvist is still rolling well, they had some of the best offensive zone opportunities, and Verhaeghe rang a puck off the post early in the first period. This match’ll leave a bitter taste in the mouths of fans, as when things were at even strength, the Panthers dominated Detroit and controlled much of the game.
5v5 Game Tight:
Florida’s 5v5 game was good against Detroit as they only gave up one even-strength goal which came in the second period. Had the Panthers kept themselves out of the penalty box or had a stronger penalty kill that would leave Florida with the win as both of their goals came at even strength. The Cats dominated the faceoff circle (39-20), hits (36-23), and SOG (43-20). The biggest issue here is they’re not getting as much traffic to the net as last season and as they’ve done in the games where they’ve won. It could be that the team is managing the season with how much hockey they’ve played in the last two years, but there’s no way to know for sure. For the playoffs last season, they were a fantastic, even-strength team and were able to wear down opponents that way, so that part of their game is still present, but with shooting percentages down for most of their top players, the goals aren’t coming as easily. The line that is hot right now is the third line of Verhaeghe-Lundell-J. Boqvist as they scored the first goal for the Panthers to tie the game 1-1. That line’s been involved in goals in four out of their last six games. Evan Rodrigues, currently playing on the fourth line, scored a response goal off a great feed from Mackie Samoskevich and tied the game 2-2 in the second period. I wouldn’t flush everything from this match, but there’s still work to be done to improve things as we get into the back half of the season.
Penalty Not Killing:
Florida shot themselves in the foot against the Red Wings. The penalty killing is in serious need of work and is obviously struggling without Ekblad and, more importantly, Kevin Stenlund. Stenlund was brought in last season to help anchor the PK and it’s been painfully clear that he was such a big piece of it and possibly an underrated part of it. The Panthers gave up three power-play goals in two periods aiding in the Detroit 2-4 lead after two periods of play. If the PK falls apart because Ekblad is out of the lineup that I think is cause for concern. As of this moment, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Florida target a player, be it forward or defenseman, for a PK roll at the trade deadline. HC Paul Maurice likes to try and even out minutes, but currently, Barkov, Reinhart, and Forsling are playing a bunch of extra minutes on special teams. There was some solid pressure at moments but ultimately Detroit did whatever they wanted with the man advantage. Florida still leads the league in short-handed goals which leaves me to wonder if Ekblad plays such a role in the PK because it looked solid when he was part of it. Last year, the PK was able to handle the stretches where Ekblad was out, and that doesn’t appear to be the case this season. The Panthers went toe to toe three separate times with what was designated the best PP during last season’s playoffs and they were successful in keeping them in check more often than not.
Solid In Relief:
It was a rough day in the office for Bobrovsky. After allowing a third power-play goal and four goals on 15 shots, HC Paul Maurice opted to put Knight in just before the end of the second period. While Spencer only saw four SOGs, he stopped all of them and continued his momentum from the Devil’s game. He’s worked really hard to build up his game and get better as the season progressed. Based on his post-game interview after the win against New Jersey, it seems his confidence has improved quite a bit as well. Is it possible that Bobrovsky is playing too many games right now? Yeah, that’s possible, and if Knight continues like this, I think he can take some of the load off. He’s got great instincts and reflexes that’ll serve him well as he develops as a player. In both shootouts he’s been in, he’s made massive saves on big-name players. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Knight start against Anaheim on Saturday.
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