There haven’t been too many negative aspects of this Panthers season — largely because of how consistent their game has been over the past few months.

 

So when they began to stray away from their usual course two weeks ago, there was some slight cause for concern as the playoffs are just a month away. 

 

Last Thursday’s 3-0 loss at home to Nashville was another night of disappointment for the Panthers. They had dropped three consecutive games in regulation for the first time all season — and trailed at least 3-0 in each of their last four games. 

 

The team who was so good at locking teams down from mid January to early March had everything going for them.

 

From Jan. 22 to March 9, the Panthers gave up two or fewer goals in 18 of 20 games and did not concede more than three in any of those — going 17-3-0 over that span. 

 

They were playing elite hockey — until they hit a bump in the road. 

 

Before we get into the skid, it’s important to note that the Panthers lost Aaron Ekblad, their top-line defenseman, to a lower-body injury in their 5-1 win against the Flames on March 9 and haven’t had him back since. 

 

March 12 in Dallas, the Panthers were in unfamiliar territory, trailing 3-0 to the Stars in just the second period. They were able to rally with four unanswered and win the game. 

 

They slacked at the start but picked up the two points, don’t panic.

 

It happened again.

 

Two nights later in Carolina, they were dominated.

 

The Hurricanes beat the Panthers 4-0 and handed them their first multi-goal loss in nearly two months.

 

It continued. 

 

The following game, Tampa put four straight goals past Florida before the Panthers clawed back to make it a 4-3 game. The Lightning sealed away an empty netter and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 47 saves in a 5-3 win, but the second half of this game wasn’t bad at all — they just ran into a goalie who was from another planet.

 

Nashville would be the next thorn in Florida’s side. 

 

Looking for a stronger performance on home ice, the Panthers were already in a hole as they were without their Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury) and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (serving two-game suspension).

 

The red hot Predators, who had points in 15 straight games when they arrived in Sunrise (13-0-2), weren’t going to be an easy out and they proved it. Nashville scored three goals, locked down the Panthers offense,and had a top performance in net from Kevin Lankinen — who picked up his first shutout in three years.

 

“We’re not close to our game now,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said following the loss to Nashville. “Right now we’re a rush team with no speed, which wouldn’t relate at all to the team that you’ve seen in the past… I got lots of faith in them, I’m going to have to find a way to get it out of them.”

 

Four full days off between the Tampa and Nashville games wasn’t enough to get the Panthers out of their mini funk — and a few tough road games were ahead. 

 

On Saturday, the Panthers went into Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers, a team who, like them, were still sniffing for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. 

 

Still without Ekblad, Barkov and Kulikov, the Panthers had even more bad luck on the horizon, losing the service of their other top-pair defenseman, Gustav Forsling, to an illness. 

 

Florida had to shuffle some things around. Uvis Balinskis was called up from AHL Charlotte for the Nashville game and 22-year-old Tobias Bjornfot made his Panthers debut in place of Forsling against the Rangers. 

 

Kyle Okposo and Steven Lorentz reentered the forward lineup while Ryan Lomberg was a healthy scratch for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

 

Missing three of their top players, on a losing streak, against undoubtedly one of the best teams in the NHL was a disaster waiting to happen. 

 

But it wasn’t.

 

Florida came out strong against the Rangers. They forechecked hard, put pressure on the opposition and most importantly, they didn’t get dominated. 

 

The Panthers scored the first two goals on Saturday night before the Rangers scored two unanswered of their own. 

 

Each side would exchange goals late in the third before the game entered the overtime period. 

 

Florida ended up losing 4-3 in the shootout, but they picked up their first points in 11 days and fought to the end against a team who now sits one point ahead of them in the standings. 

 

“I liked our game tonight.  I’m really happy with it,” Maurice said after the loss to New York. “It’s been a little bit of a grinder for us. The element that we haven’t been able to grab hold of in our games was in it tonight. I was very happy with it.”

 

The Rangers game was a step in the right direction and they had an opportunity to build off that less than 24 hours later in Philadelphia. 

 

On Sunday night, the Panthers had the second half of their back-to-back, this time against the Flyers. 

 

Anthony Stolarz got the call after Sergei Bobrovsky started five consecutive games and Dmitry Kulikov returned from his suspension. Ryan Lomberg also got back into the lineup.

 

The Panthers continued where they left off in New York.

 

Sam Reinhart got the ball rolling with his 49th goal of the season to open the scoring 10:34 into the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko doubled the Panthers lead in the second period with his 20th goal of the season (third with Florida). 

 

Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 3-0 in the third with his 32nd goal of the season and that just about wrapped things up.

 

The Flyers would make it a 3-1 game but Sam Reinhart put a cherry on top of his historic offensive season with his 50th goal of the season — becoming just the second player in Panthers history to do so (Pavel Bure did it twice).  

 

After losing four straight (0-3-1), the Panthers finally got back into the win column with a 4-1 win against the Flyers, doing so without Barkov, Forsling and Ekblad.

 

“I think we built off last game (in New York),” Brandon Montour said in Philadelphia. “Last two weeks we haven’t liked the way we’ve been playing… It’s gonna happen with long seasons. So we want to get back to what made us successful this year. I thought the guys did a good job today.”

 

There’s only 11 games left in the Panthers regular season and they stopped the bleeding at an opportune time. 

 

They are first in the Atlantic Division and trail the Rangers by just one point for first in the East. 

 

With a three-game home stand coming up, the Panthers will see the Bruins on Tuesday, in what will be a huge four-point swing with the top two teams in the division playing for first as the season dwindles down. 

 

The Panthers may get Barkov back for that game and would hope Forsling can return too. Aaron Ekblad isn’t too far off either. 

 

In less than a month, the two week slump would be all but forgotten as the Panthers will be playing in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

 

The race to the finish line will see multiple teams battle for the top seed in the East and the Panthers should be right there in the mix as the post season approaches.  

The Florida Panthers have a hidden gem in their prospect pool and he’s lighting the lamp all across the country 

 

University of Denver forward and Florida Panthers prospect Jack Devine is tearing up college hockey.

 

The Pioneers’ junior forward leads the NCAA in goals (21) and is second in scoring (39 points), just behind his teammate Massimo Rizzo. 

 

Devine entered college as a 17-year-old after accelerating his senior year of high school. Now in his third season at Denver, the Panthers’ 2022 seventh-round draft pick continues to improve his game and offensive production.

 

The 20-year-old is one of the hottest talents in the country right now, but he remains humble — crediting much of his individual success to his teammates. 

 

“I think I’ve been really fortunate to play with two amazing teammates this year — Massimo [Rizzo] and McKade Webster,” Devine told Five Reasons Sports. “They’ve done a great job setting me up and putting me in great positions and I’m super thankful for the other teammates that I’ve been fortunate to play with.”

 

The Panthers are sure to be more than happy with the way Devine is developing at Denver, but looking back to his draft year, he was very close to going undrafted. 

 

Florida selected Devine with their final pick of the 2022 NHL Draft — taking the American forward 221st overall. If Devine didn’t go to the Panthers, there were just four picks remaining in the draft. 

 

Rather than wanting to show teams who passed on him what they could’ve had, Devine said he’s focused on representing both the Panthers and the Pioneers.

 

“I think in the moment I was just super lucky to be drafted by Florida and happy that they took a chance and opportunity on me,” Devine said. “I just want to be able to go out there and represent them well.”

 

He added. “When I’m here with the University of Denver it’s focusing on being a Pioneer and being a player here. I’ve been fortunate enough to develop with our coaches and our staff. I definitely give a lot of credit to them as they’ve helped me improve my game drastically.”

 

Over the summer, Devine was one of the biggest standouts at the Panthers’ Development Camp in Coral Springs. Between the explosiveness in his skating and his rapidly quick shot release — Devine turned some heads at the Panthers IceDen.

 

“It’s a great experience to come in, meet the staff and some other players, start to build those relationships,” Devine said. “It’s definitely a competitive week. You kind of get to assess you against some of the other guys in Europe and the CHL… The coaching there’s also elite and if I could take two or three things from there and put that into my season, I think it’s a successful week of camp.”

 

 

The current Panthers front office has done a fantastic job at finding NHL players who have flown under the radar and turning them into important pieces for the organization. Led by general manager Bill Zito, Florida has found diamonds in the rough at the pro level, like Gustav Forsling and Carter Verhaeghe — both of whom are top-minute players for the Panthers.

 

A late-round pick himself, Devine may just be another stealthy find by the staff in Sunrise.  

 

“That’s something you look at. I think they’ve done a great job with the talent they have on their team and the talent in their system,” Devine said regarding the Panthers’ player development. “It kind of shows how they were able to make it to the Stanley Cup Final last year. That’s obviously something you pay attention to and watch because they have such tremendous players.”

 

The goal for any athlete, no matter the sport, is to win championships. The University of Denver men’s hockey program is no stranger to that. Their nine NCAA National Hockey Championships are tied for the most all-time with the Michigan Wolverines.

 

Devine already has one national championship under his belt — winning the 2022 title in his freshman year. 

 

This season, Devine and the Pioneers have a great chance to get back to that stage. With the nation’s top-two leading scorers and the fourth ranked team in the country, the vibes are good in Denver. 

 

“I think it’s been a lot of fun. When you have such a tight group like we have, you go out there and you play with some of your best friends,” Devine said. “I think it’s also enjoyable when you’re winning, I think hockey’s a lot of fun when you’re doing that. The more success we have as a team, the more it would be fun for me.” 

 

The Pioneers are just about two-thirds of the way through the regular season. With the final stretch of the year approaching, playoffs are just around the corner and with that, the end of Devine’s junior year. 

 

“As you come in as a freshman, people say it flies by. I think it really has so far into my junior year,”  Devine said. “These last 20 games, just enjoy it, take it one game at a time and hopefully at the end of the year, win another national championship.”

Last January in Halifax, while Czechia played for World Junior gold, Marek Alscher cheered on his teammates from the crowd.

 

Alscher, then 18, was part of the 2023 Czech World Junior team — but the Florida Panthers’ 2022 draft pick did not play in any of the games for the eventual silver medalists.   

 

One year later, Alscher is back with the Czech national junior team. This time, he’s expected to play a larger role as one of the few returning players at the tournament in Gothenburg. 

 

“I’m super excited,” Alscher told Five Reasons Sports ahead of the tournament. “Last year I was able to be part of the team. Not really playing but that’s maybe some extra motivation for me personally. I know how it was, I want to feel that again.”

 

The Czechs surprised a lot of people at the 2023 tournament — topping their group en route to the gold medal game — their first since the 2001 tournament. 

 

Despite not playing, Alscher didn’t feel as if he was left out of the journey.

 

“It was incredible, I wasn’t playing but still, I was in the locker room, the guys did include me in the team and I really felt like I was playing,” Alscher said. “After every game we actually felt like our heart rate was similar to playing. When we scored, we jumped with the fans. It was a really good experience.”

 

After the Czechs went home with their first medal in 18 years, Alscher’s schedule didn’t get any easier. 

 

He returned to Portland and played in the WHL Playoffs with the Winterhawks. Then, he joined Florida’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, for their Calder Cup playoff run on an ATO — skating and training with the team.

 

Later in the summer, Alscher was back in Coral Springs for the Florida Panthers Development Camp, Rookie Camp, and eventually, his second NHL Training Camp. 

 

Alscher got to experience another year of Paul Maurice’s infamous training camp skates in South Florida and play in a preseason game before being returned to his junior club. 

 

“This year I felt much more comfortable [at camp],” Alscher said. “I knew more guys and was comfortable talking in the locker room.”

 

Reflecting on his camp with the Panthers, Alscher mentioned that there was one notable player that really stood out to him in the locker room. It was fellow European defensemen and newly acquired Panther, Oliver Ekman-Larsson. 

 

“I had a chance to talk with Ekman-Larsson who was sitting next to me. I just remember how friendly he was,” Alscher said. “He really made me even more comfortable before the game. We talked like 10-15 minutes. I just remember how nice he was. On the bench. In the locker room. He really helped me a lot.”

 

When Ekman-Larsson learned that Alscher was moved by his actions, it took the veteran defenseman back to when he was learning the ropes as teenager in the NHL.

 

“[I] just try to go back to when I got into the league, my first training camp,” Ekman-Larsson said. “Just trying to be a good person and try to help other people out… People around cared about me when I first got into the league and I have a lot of thanks for those kinds of people. I think it goes a long way.”

 

Ekman-Larsson, 32, has had quite the NHL career before he joined the Panthers in the offseason. 

 

He has over 900 NHL games played, captained an NHL franchise and won a plethora of medals representing Sweden across international tournaments such as the Olympics and 

World Championships. But, before any of that happened — like Alscher — Ekman-Larsson played in the World Juniors.

 

“That tournament is a great experience. It was for me,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We came up a little bit short but it was still an unbelievable tournament.” Ekman-Larsson and Sweden took home the bronze medal back at the 2010 tournament in Saskatoon — Alscher was five at the time.

 

Alscher said that seeing how Ekman-Larsson carried himself has helped him take a leadership approach to younger players, both at his club team in Portland and with the Czech national team.

 

“It matters what you do on the ice, but also off the ice. What person are you in the locker room,” Alscher added. “ “That’s something that I’d take from him.”

 

The World Juniors is an extremely intriguing tournament. It’s the highest level of junior hockey you can find anywhere in the world. Games are played in front of thousands, with millions watching on television globally. Don’t forget, these players who are representing their countries on the highest stage  are all teenagers.  

 

Obviously every team at the tournament has their eyes set on a medal. That should be no different for the defending silver medalists, Czechia.

 

 “We are always looking for the best, we want to get the furthest. Whether it’s bronze, silver or gold, the sky’s the limit in here,” Alscher said. “Our goal is just to work as hard as we can and get as far as we can.”

 

As a 19-year-old, Alscher will age out following this year’s World Juniors in Gothenburg. When asked what he wants to take away from the tournament, the young defenseman took a page out of Ekman-Larsson’s book of leadership.

 

“We were struggling a bit before I left in Portland. If we are going to have a good tournament, that’s what I would love to bring to the team,” Alscher said. “It’s hard to say now before the tournament… but yea it’s probably what I would say. Just a winning mentality.”

SUNRISE — Less than a month after playing in the Stanley Cup Final, Panthers fan favorite Anthony Duclair was on his way out of South Florida.  

 

After three seasons in Florida, the now 28-year-old’s time in Sunrise came to an abrupt end — on July 1, he was traded to San Jose.

 

“Obviously there were rumors before [the trade happened],” Duclair said on Monday when addressing Florida media for the first time since the trade. “Sometimes it’s inevitable… obviously being traded isn’t the best feeling because I’ve built so many relationships down here.”

 

Going from a team just weeks removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance to the team who finished fourth from last in the standings isn’t an ideal situation, but Duclair expressed his contendness on the new challenge that awaited him in San Jose.   

 

“It’s tough to leave but at the same time I think I went to a great opportunity,” Duclair said. “Mike [Grier] called me right away and explained to me how big the opportunity is for me here. A chance to continue to grow as a player and step into kind of a leadership role here.”

 

When Duclair gets onto the ice later tonight in Sunrise, there’s sure to be a loud array of cheers raining down from the stands of Amerant Bank Arena.

 

He was loved by a lot of people in South Florida — whether that was from his teammates, staff, fans or members of the local community.

 

“Oh man, big smile, we loved having him around,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said when asked about Duclair off the ice. “What a wonderful joy for the game, and laughter, that part we certainly miss.”

 

Over the course of three seasons with the Panthers, Duclair played in 137 regular season games, picking up 99 points (43,56,99)  — including a career-high 31 goal season in 2021-2022. Duclair appeared in 34 Stanley Cup Playoff Games with the Panthers over that span, 20 of which came last season.

 

The Sharks forward is sure to receive a good reception in his return to Sunrise tonight. In his time with the Panthers, the arena was always filled with ‘Duclair’ jerseys — and the crowd even created a chant for him — 19,000+ shouting “Duuuke” in unison as he flew down the wing.     

 

His return will be a bittersweet. He’ll skate in front of the Florida faithful once again, only this time he’ll be in teal and white, not red and blue. 

 

“It’s going to be special for sure,” Duclair said. “I just want to approach this game like any other, but it’s going to be pretty cool, especially with the run we had last year… those kinds of runs you build relationships for a lifetime.”

 

While reminiscing on his time with the Panthers, Duclair said the biggest standout for him was the teammates he had in Florida.

 

“I got to play with some unbelievable players. I mean guys like Barkov, who’s arguably on of the best defensive forwards in the game, just the opportunity to learn from him,” Duclair said. “Huberdeau, Bennett, Tkachuk, guys who make an impact game in and game out. You learn from guys like that.”

 

As for reuniting with those teammates, Duclair was more than happy he’d be able to do that. 

 

“I know it’s going to be cool to see those guys again.”

 

As a franchise, Florida really flipped the script three years ago beginning in the 2020-2021 season. From getting into the postseason, to winning the President’s Trophy, and then making it to the Stanley Cup Finals over the course of three years — Anthony Duclair was there for all of it. 

 

“South Florida’s always going to have a special place in my heart. I had a great three years here and I’m just looking forward to tomorrow (Tuesday night).”