Halfway through the long road trip, the Florida Panthers picked up another win. Squaring off against Buffalo for the second time this month, the Cats got a much different outcome this time around. In their third game of the season, Florida fell to the Sabers 2-5 in what was an all-around messy and undisciplined game, with the team missing critical leadership in Barkov and Tkachuk. The chance at redemption proved fruitful as the Panthers picked up a 5-2 win before they got on a plane to head to Finland for their Global Series games against the Dallas Stars. The team chemistry has vastly improved from the first couple of weeks. Barkov played his first game back, and the Panthers are still one of the best teams in the NHL in the third period.
Team Chemistry Clicking:
Adding new pieces to a team is always a challenge, which was evident in the first two weeks of play. While they knew how to play together against the Bruins, there were plenty of struggles against other opponents. But the team has learned through the adversity and found a grove even when Barkov and Tkachuk were out of the lineup. Now, with them back in, the Panthers look as dangerous as ever. What was impressive to see is that even with some mixing of players in the bottom six, the lines didn’t look like they missed a beat, and they were still getting in good shifts and chances against the Sabers. Samoskevich, who had been playing on the third line, moved down to the fourth line to stay with those players. They put in some great shifts in the offensive zone and had their chances to put the puck in the back of the net. Jesper Boqvist transitioned back to winger after an eight-game stint at center while Barkov was out. Boqvist was paired up with Luostarinen and Lundell, and that line opened the scoring midway through the first period. Great passing from Luostarinen and Lundell set up Boqvist for the night’s first goal on a shot that went in on the short stick side. Jesper has four points through twelve games, and now that he’s back in his natural position, he could be poised for a great year. Lundell and Luostarinen have taken a big step forward in their level of play, and when they added Reinhart to the mix, that line was nearly unstoppable together. Three penalty killers on the same line and the offensive prowess of Reinhart paired with the playmaking ability of Lundell, they wreaked havoc on opponents. It’s almost sad to see that line broken up, but there are few pairings of center and forward that are better than Barkov and Reinhart. Sam Bennett scored his team-leading eighth goal and is on a five-game goal streak at the moment. Carter Verhaeghe, clutch as always, gave the Panthers the lead going into the third period after Buffalo had tied the game during the second. On the defensive side of things, Mikkola-Kulikov has been a fantastic shutdown pair and both are taking a step to be more offensive, Mikkola especially has been taking more shots toward the net. Adam Boqvist was the healthy scratch, just as the rotation is going. That put Schmidt and Balinskis together on the third pairing, and they had a great night. Balinskis was also impactful in running the first power play unit. There was crisp passing and quick puck movement, although it was ultimately Bennett on unit two that scored the man advantage goal.
Barkov Returns:
Eight games without their captain, and the Panthers were able to adapt to the loss. However, Barkov was back in the lineup Monday night for his first game since getting injured and his impact was noticeable. Barkov, Reinhart, Forsling, and Ekblad together were able to rein in the dangerous top line of the Sabers and shut them down for most of the night, they were only effective on the power play where Zucker scored a goal off tipping in Thompson’s shot. Barkov continues to be the best Panther in the faceoff dot, he’s now 26-17 with a FO% of 60.5, the next closest in Lundell at a 52.1 FO%. In true Barkov fashion, he made an incredible no-look pass to Reinhart who then scored just eight seconds into the power play in the first period. He then went on and scored his first goal of the season off a lovely wrister shot that went in on the blocker side. It was a strong first game back before the team headed over to Finland where they’ll be playing games in his hometown of Tampere. In his post-game interview, he expressed his excitement about getting to play NHL games in his hometown and how special the experience is going to be.
Getting Better As The Game Goes On:
If there’s one thing you can count on when it comes to the Florida Panthers, it’s that they’re a great third-period team. And if the Cats are leading going into the third period, they are nearly unbeatable. Since Paul Maurice took over, the Panthers are 91-2-6 when leading going into the third period, including the playoffs. With Verhaeghe’s goal late in the second period, the Cats proved again that they wear teams down over the course of the sixty minutes. There are very few teams who can hang with them in that regard. Even looking at the game against the Islanders, New York took a 0-3 lead in the first period only to end up losing 6-3 by the end of it. Florida played a more complete game against Buffalo which led to them taking the lead and never relinquishing it. Even when things get tough or the opponents come back to tie, if the third period is still to come, Florida’s going to put out its best effort then. Things got chippy in the third period, which isn’t surprising given that it’s a Florida game, and you can count on two hands how many games they go without getting into a fight during a season. Frustration had set in for the Sabers, and tempers flared as a result. Stout defense and forechecking pressure from the Panthers gave them the advantage in the final period and, ultimately, the win.
Florida is back in action in Tampere, Finland Friday and Saturday.
