Unhappy with their performance against the Boston Bruins, the Panthers rebounded with a great win over the Maple Leafs. More time with Jones filling in Ekblad’s role showed improvement in the second outing of the Forsling-Jones pairing, as well as a strong power play performance. The Sams led the way with Samoskevich, Reinhart, and Bennett combining for two goals and four assists. A defensively strong third period allowed the Cats to walk away with a big win over their conference rival and another achievement for Bobrovsky, who had a great outing yet again.
Power Play Led The Way:
Florida made the Leafs pay on the man advantage as they went two for three on the power play Thursday night. With Jones stepping in to run the top unit, things looked better than they did against the Bruins as Seth gets a feel for how the top guys want to run it. Arguably, the biggest play of the night was Jones making a play from his stomach to hold the puck in while it was sitting on the blue line during the man advantage. It eventually led to the Cats converting for a goal and a 3-1 lead; the goal would stand as the game-winner after Toronto scored in the third period to make it 3-2. The power play also came up big in the first period to tie the game 1-1 late after the Cats gave up an early goal. Florida doesn’t want to rely solely on their power play to win them games every night, but it’s nice when it can do that. It’s an especially good sign that things are working well, as they’re still missing Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad, two big pieces of the top unit.
Sams Club:
It’s no secret that Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett are big names in the NHL, but new to the scene is Mackie Samoskevich in his rookie season. Early in the year, HC Paul Maurice was quick to praise how happy the team was with his development and that he was ahead of schedule. He’s a very smart player with great hands and reads the game well, almost as well as some of the Panthers’ top players. So, it’s no surprise that Mackie has earned himself a role on the top power play unit and on a line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk/Evan Rodrigues. Over his last six games, Mackie has had three goals, three assists, and 20 hits. Samoskevich was instrumental in finding Sam Bennett or the play that got Bennett the puck for both power play goals. With Reinhart down at the goal line, Bennett’s taking his place in the slot and looked just as dangerous as Reinhart does. The first power play goal was set up by Reinhart making a pass to Samoskevich, who was driving toward the net. Mackie’s shot was saved, but the rebound went straight to Bennett, who put it home to tie the game 1-1. A primary assist for Mackie and a secondary assist for Reinhart. On the second power play goal, Samoskevich had the puck in the faceoff circle and quickly surveyed the ice for the location of the penalty killers. He saw that Reinhart was open, and there was space for Bennett in the slot, so he made the pass down low to Samson, who then made the quick pass to Bennett. Once again, Bennett’s quick shot found the back of the net and a 3-1 lead going into the final twenty minutes of play. When asked about Samoskevich in his post-game interview, Bennett said, “He’s a great player, and he’s going to be a great player in this league for a long time.”
Defensive Lockdown:
After a disappointing third period in Boston, the Panthers weren’t about to let that happen again. Although they did get burned by a Domi breakaway goal due to a slow line change, they were locked in defensively and didn’t give up much to the Leafs. Hard work in the defensive zone had the Cats winning puck battles along the boards while disrupting passes, which helped keep Marner and Matthews off the score sheet. Great work along the boards in the offensive zone by the fourth line allowed Greer to find an open Niko Mikkola, who scored his 5th goal of the season and gave Florida the 2-1 lead in the second period. Toronto made a push in the final twenty minutes but couldn’t come up with the game-tying goal, and after getting scored on on the breakaway, Bobrovsky wasn’t about to let in another one. HC Paul Maurice spoke on Bobrovksy in his post-game saying, “At 3-1, he’s not going to like the 3-2 goal, and then you’re thinking you’re going to have a hard time beating him now because he’s angry in the net. He just totally fits our team. He’s so calm in that net.” Despite not a great start to the year, Bob has been rock solid since about the November/December time frame. Since the start of the month, Bob is 4-1-0 with a .949 SV% and a 1.21 GAA with two shutouts against Calgary and Columbus. Bobrovsky moves into 10th place on the NHL’s All-Time Goalie Win List with 424 wins. With the return of the bottom four pairs used for the majority of the season, only the Forsling-Jones pairing needs extra adjustment time. They looked like a more solid pairing against the Leafs and will only get better as the rest of the season progresses. Ideally, the Panthers didn’t want to be playing Jones 20+ minutes a night, but it’s a role he’s capable of handling. With the win over the Leafs, the Cats have a four-point advantage while they hold onto first place.
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