“We’re going to get beat in November in a game against a Western Conference team that didn’t make the playoffs last year and probably won’t make the playoffs this year. It’ll be assigned as a hangover loss.” That’s what HC Paul Maurice had to say on September 18 before the season started, and Chicago checks all those boxes. The Panthers have struggled playing in Chicago over the last three years and Thursday night was no different. The Cats looked sloppy, and like they were playing down to their opponent as opposed to playing at the level, they’re capable of. The team looked like they did against Ottawa at the start of the season, lack of forechecking, turnovers in the neutral zone, and poor passing. It was the type of game where fans could see that the emotional intensity wasn’t there and Maurice had already flagged that as an issue they’re going to deal with this season after those early losses to Buffalo and Ottawa. As always, Sam Reinhart continues to light up opponents as he racks up the points. A positive to take from this game was that the second line looked good although they didn’t get rewarded on the stat sheet for it.
Ghostly Forechecking:
The Cats are at their best when they have a strong forecheck going. While they were able to dominate the o-zone time they struggled to get the forecheck established. With that cornerstone piece of their game absent, the rest of the offense struggled as a result. There wasn’t enough traffic at the net for the majority of the game which allowed Mrazek to see the shots coming. There were a few chances in front of the net that Florida tried to cash in on but there were more Blackhawks present to clear loose pucks out of danger. And with the lack of forecheck, it gave Chicago every opportunity to get into the shooting lanes and block pucks; they ended the night with 19 blocked shots where, as the Panthers only had eight. There wasn’t a lack of shooting, with the Cats having 33 SOG, but the lack of finishing or rebound opportunities were few and far between. Forsling said in his post-game interview that he thought the team worked its way into the game but they weren’t ready to go at puck drop.
Missed Passes and The Turnover Bug:
So the forecheck was missing but if that’s the only thing that’s struggling usually the team can work around it. What they can’t work around is having the forecheck missing with turnovers and missed passes to boot. The puck movement was sloppy from Florida and very mismanaged. Florida had 11 giveaways and gave up 5 takeaways to the Blackhawks. The passing was off the mark for most of the night with pucks bouncing away from players or passes getting intercepted. It happened all over the ice with a failed clear and poor coverage near the net leading to the eventual power play goal from Teravainen who was left wide open. The good news is that when Florida was in the offensive zone they got pressure and were able to have extended time in the o-zone. The second line of Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk had some good chances but they just couldn’t get the finish. The sloppy play killed any type of momentum Florida could’ve gotten during the game and HC Paul Maurice was caught on camera having some, what I can only assume, explicit words for his team. Whatever was said did get the team playing better but it wasn’t enough to overcome the self-induced errors and Chicago got the 1-3 win.
NHL Threat: Samson Reinhart
The national broadcast called Reinhart the quietest leading goal scorer, he’s tied with Draisaitl and Ovechkin currently. It’s not an assessment I agree with because of the year he had last season, people know he’s a goal-scoring threat and his pace hasn’t slowed down from last year. Opponents hound him on the power-play because of how much damage he did last year and he’s already got four power-play goals this season. Coming off a career year, Sam Reinhart is every bit as good as he was during the 2023-2024 season and is on pace to have an even better year this year. In 82 games last year Reinhart had 57 goals with 37 assists for 94 points. Through 20 games he’s had 15 goals with 15 assists for 30 points and currently has an active 12-game point streak. Reinhart isn’t relying on the power-play as much this year to rack up the points either, he’s still a dangerous scoring threat there but he’s beating teams 5v5 and making shots from all over the ice. Out of the top 10 goal scorers, Reinhart leads them all in shooting percentage at 28.8%. Reinhart was also the first player to reach 15 goals and 15 assists this season. When the Panthers as a team may struggle, one thing is consistent, Reinhart scoring goals or getting assists. He’s been a force on the ice this season and teams have struggled to shut him down completely.
Florida takes on the Colorado Avalanche at home on Saturday.
