After winning the first match in Sunrise, the Panthers headed out west to begin their second west coast road trip with a rematch against the Ducks. Goal scoring has been a bit difficult for a good portion of the roster as of late but Tuesday night’s game broke some important goal droughts. A huge hustle play from A. J. Greer and Rodrigues gave the Panthers the lead, and they never looked back from there. As the Cats build their game for the playoffs one player has shown great growth during this season, Mackie Samoskevich. He’s earned himself a top-six role on a line with Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen. Florida’s shutdown defense showed out in the third after the Panthers took a commanding lead early and rode that to the end of the period for the win.
Goal Drought Ended:
Goal scoring for the big-name players coming from anyone not named Sam Reinhart, who got Florida on the scoreboard, has been difficult to come by in the last month or so. Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, and Matthew Tkachuk have been the subject of talk among fans for their scoring woes this season. It’s been especially noticeable with those guys because that was Florida’s entire second line last season and they were one of the best lines. Having them all go cold this year has been quite detrimental because they’re just having a down year all at once or other teams figured out how to play against them. Bennett got off to a hot start in the first two months of the season but hasn’t scored a goal since early December. Thankfully, that changed Tuesday night against the Ducks. The Panthers went into the third period with a one-goal lead, and a fantastic by Samoskevich got the puck to Bennett in the slot, where he finally got rewarded with a goal. Bennett’s been a big part of Florida’s playoff success as coaching staff have said his type of game is suited for the post-season so it’s important to the team to have him going. It’s not for lack of trying either. Bennett is second on the team in SOG at 135, but he’s only shooting at 10.4% as opposed to Reinhart, who’s had 126 SOG but is shooting at 22.2%. Looking at his stats to his previous seasons with the Panthers, Bennett’s not actually that far off from where been in the past. It’s been a very similar story for Carter Verhaeghe, he’s taking the shots but hasn’t gotten the reward. Unlike Bennett, Carter’s shooting percentage is down from where he’s been in previous seasons. He’s only shooting at 7.6%, whereas in prior years, he’s been in the 13-16% range. His new home on the third line with Lundell and Jesper Boqvist has been one of the best lines this year for the Cats. While he may not be racking up as many goals this year he could have a career year in assists with Lundell and J. Boqvist getting the finishes. In addition to his goal, he got the secondary assist on Uvis Balinskis’ goal that capped off the 5-2 win. He also snapped a bit of a goal drought against Anaheim with a simply lovely sniped shot at the end of the third period to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead before heading into intermission with a 3-2 lead. It looks like the new lines are starting to gel and these may be the lines that Florida rolls with into the playoffs. The next couple of months will be a good tell of how ready they are for the postseason.
Mackie Samoskevich Impact:
The Panthers had a Vladimir Tarasenko-sized hole to fill in their lineup after winning the Cup and Mackie Samoskevich has been the answer. Mackie’s put in the work this season and earned his way into the top 6 and on to the power play. He’s become one of the team’s best forecheckers, as he has been showing off his hockey IQ. Mackie had two primary assists one on the Verhaeghe goal and one on Bennett’s goal. He’s showing off his play-making skills and making a great impact on the game. The coaching staff have been very happy with his growth and development, and when asked about his development early in the season, HC Paul Maurice said that he was ahead of schedule. Building chemistry with his linemates led to several scoring chances, including the goal Bennett scored. Mackie’s going to be a player to keep an eye on for the rest of the season.
Lock Down Defense:
Scoring two quick goals early in the third period gave Florida the 5-2 lead and allowed their defense to take over from there. While Anaheim held a slight advantage in SOG (29-30), blocked shots (15-17), and hits (15-18), the Panthers’ defense did its job in the third, defending the lead and clearing loose pucks out of danger. The Cats got into shooting and passing lanes, pressured hard on zone entries, and had their forecheck and backcheck going. The forechecking especially is a big part of the Panthers’ game, so when they have that going it seems that everything else falls into place. Jesper Boqvist and Anton Lundell led the team in hits with three each. Sticks were active as well to break up centering feeds and clear loose pucks. Bobrovsky had a good night, stopping 28 of 30 shots for a .933 SV%, and he had some huge saves in the first and second periods to keep the Florida lead. You’d like a save on the late goal in the first period, but he was rock solid the rest of the game and made great saves through the traffic in front of him. Florida travels to the LA Kings Wednesday night for the second half of their back-to-back.
Fight Night – Inside The Rink
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