A horror show ending to the game has overshadowed anything else that happened Thursday night for the Panthers. Captain Aleksander Barkov went hard into the end boards, attempting to stop an empty net goal after his stick broke on a shot attempt. Barkov had to be helped off the ice by Balinskis and Rodrigues. As of Friday afternoon, it’s being reported on X by the Locked On Florida Panthers Podcast that Kyle Bukauskas of the 32 Thoughts Podcast was told that Barkov was seen walking out of the arena last night without assistance. David Pagnotta reported on X that Barkov’s injury is considered a bad sprain, and he’s out week to week. The Panthers did not hold practice on Friday so there’s been no official statement from the team. A slow start to the game in the first period ultimately led to the Senators winning the game, empty-net goal or not. The Panthers didn’t win a single regular season game against Linus Ullmark when he was with the Bruins last season so the team struggling to get pucks past him in this game wasn’t too much of a surprise for me. The PK show improvement after giving up a goal in the first period. Amidst the horrid ending, there were some positives to take away from the game, the Lundell line looked great with Mackie Samoskevich fitting in well, the Cats got better as the game went on, and the Panthers’ fourth line was arguably the best of the night. As of Thursday night post-game, there is no update on Barkov. HC Paul Maurice said he’ll get looked at Thursday night and Friday.
Slow Start Bites The Cats:
The Senators came out flying in their home opener, while Florida did not. It was tranquil for a Tkachuk Bowl Game as penalties were minimal, there wasn’t a single fight, and no one got thrown out of the game. This game could’ve been an emotional letdown for Florida after all the high emotions on Tuesday, they simply didn’t look sharp or quick in the first period. An early penalty put the Sens on the powerplay, resulting in the game’s opening goal from a Tim Stützle shot near the top of the right faceoff circle. After the Panthers gave up several odd-man rushes in the period, Ottawa converted one into a second goal from a shot from Shane Pinto in about the same spot as Stützle’s, near the top of the right faceoff circle. The disparity in the first period was all over the stats sheet, with Ottawa holding a significant advantage in every category: SOG 8-17, blocked shots 4-7, hits 9-12, faceoffs 7-16. By the end of the game, the biggest disparity was blocked shots, with Ottawa holding a 9-30 advantage over the Panthers.
Depth Lines Playing Well:
Depth scoring was one of Florida’s biggest advantages last season with every line being able to put up goals on a consistent basis. Thursday night, the Cats’ third and fourth lines were by far the best ones, and they had the most time in the offensive zone. Even during the first period, it was the fourth line that put in good shifts in the Senators’ zone to try and bring some momentum to the Panthers. Gadjovich, Greer, and Jesper Boqvist all had good chances during the match. The Luostarinen-Lundell-Samoskevich line is looking excellent. Mackie had several shot attempts during the game and made some nice plays to his linemates. HC Paul Maurice said during media availability this week that Mackie has, “NHL hands”. The Panthers are going to have quite the decision to make once Tomas Nosek is healthy and ready to play as the fourth-line center. The pressure from the depth lines will be a strength for the Panthers if this continues all season, and it relaxes the responsibility of the top six to do all the scoring. Time will tell if these positive traits will stay long-term, but right now, things look good for the depth players.
Improvement Period to Period:
A slow start to a game is something that Florida did last season as well; sometimes, they’re able to overcome it, and sometimes, it gets the better of them. Thursday night it got the better of them but they were the better team for two out of three periods. Getting goalied is something that happens from time to time, and Linus Ullmark is more than capable of stealing games. Add to that, the Senators are blocking 30 shots, and that’s how the Cats end up taking a 1-3 loss. After the first period, things looked better from Florida in most aspects of the game except for turnovers which HC Paul Maurice said they weren’t able to shake the turnover bug all game in his post-game interview. Gustav Forsling scored the Panthers’ lone goal of the night off a shot near the blue line that Ullmark couldn’t track with Tkachuk as a screen in front of him. The powerplay is still a work in progress right now but Balinskis did a good job running the top unit with A. Boqvist out, which earned him praise from Maurice for his decision-making on the man advantage. After the first period, the Panthers gave up less than 15 shots in the remaining two periods and dominated the zone time and possession. One aspect that was a strength last year and will hopefully improve over the course of the season is the success in the faceoff dot. For the second straight game, Florida was outplayed on faceoffs, and while they crawled back into it and made it more competitive in the final two periods, in the first period, Ottawa dominated with a 7-16 advantage. Part of that could be because Nosek is out injured, and Jesper Boqvist is centering the fourth line. He’s currently at 29.4 FO%, which puts him nearly a full 14% down from the next center, Anton Lundell, who’s at 43.5 FO% right now. Ideally, the Panthers would want all their centers to be 50% or above, which is where all of their major faceoff takers were during the playoffs. All in all, it was a mixed bag of a game capped off by a sour note in Barkov getting injured. But there were improvements made in the PK which is a good sign.
Florida takes on the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday, and hopefully, Adam Boqvist will be back in the lineup.
