5 Takeaways from Panthers Game 3 OT win over Tampa

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Florida Panthers clawed their way back into the series with a 6-5 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but all that matters is the “W” in the win column. Here are tonight’s five takeaways. 

Second period disaster

After shutting out the Lightning in the first period, Florida started the second with a 2-0 lead. What followed suit was quite possibly the worst period of hockey all season by the Panthers. Florida conceded five goals in the second period and were 0/2 on the penalty kill. 

Florida wasn’t strong in front of their own net and Tampa exposed that by out muscling the Panthers in 50/50 battles, leading to multiple goals in front of Chris Dreidger’s crease. Dreidger was pulled after the second period and was replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky.

Tampa’s five goal onslaught quickly wiped away Florida’s two-goal lead and stole all the momentum from the Cats in the second. The Panthers only got one goal in the period and Tampa led 5-3 after 40 minutes of play.

Vasilevskiy’s 41 save night

Despite the six goals against on the stat sheet, Andrei Vasilevskiy still showed why he is one of the best goaltenders in the world, specifically during the second period. While Florida had a defensive collapse in the period, the forwards continued to put the pressure on the Lightning. 

Prior to the fifth Lightning goal, MacKenzie Weegar had a golden opportunity to tie the game at four a piece when he found himself alone on Vasilevskiy. Weegar had the perfect angle to pull the puck across his body and bury it into the far side corner of the goal, the only thing stopping him was a sprawling poke check by the Russian netminder. Tampa went on to score after the big save and grabbed a two-goal cushion on the Cats.

Vasilevskiy quickly bounced back from a poor first period and won the goaltending battle against Chris Dreidger. Without his play during the second, Tampa may not have scored as many goals as they did. He ended the night with 41 saves.

Dumb mistakes led to Tampa goals

When you blow a two-goal lead in under 10 minutes, at least one thing had to have gone wrong. In Florida’s case, bad decisions led to their blown lead in this game.

Whether it was turnovers in the neutral zone, taking penalties in the offensive zone, or getting burnt on odd-man rushes in transition, the Panthers didn’t play their best hockey in that game.

First of all, Tampa once again showed that their power play is dangerous, going 2/3 on the man advantage. In Game 1 they scored three on the power play. One of the keys to the series was to keep Tampa off the power play, unfortunately it almost cost them again in Game 3. 

The Panthers won tonight, but it was a close game that had a lot of mistakes. If you give Tampa an opportunity, there’s a good chance they’ll make you pay.  

No Yandle, no problem

Tonight the Panthers and Coach Q made a big decision, one that potentially changed the outcome of the game and that was to scratch Keith Yandle. 

Yandle has the second longest ironman streak in NHL history for consecutive regular season games played with 922. He played in the first two games of the series, but he has often turned over the puck too many times in important situations. In Game 2, a Yandle turnover led to Tampa’s game clinching empty net goal, putting the Cats down 0-2 in the series.

Panther fans immediately called for Yandle to be benched and that’s exactly what happened. 

The biggest on-ice strength for Yandle is his ability to quarter back the power play. Without Yandle in the lineup tonight, Florida had to switch up their top power play unit. Luckily for the Cats, they didn’t seem to miss a beat, going 2/2 on the man advantage without their long-time top PP defenseman.

Cardiac Cats

Once again, the Cardiac Cats kept you on the edge of your seats until the final whistle. Heading into the third period down two against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, you wouldn’t think the Panthers could come back after the disaster of a second period, right? Well, we know what happened.

Coach Q made the decision to yank Chris Dreidger and put Sergei Bobrovksy back in the net. Bobrovsky last played in Florida’s 5-4 Game 1 loss.

The Panthers opened the third with a power play goal, cutting the deficit to just one. They continued to push the play but Tampa held onto their lead until the dying minutes of the game. That’s when Gustav Forsling found himself open in the slot and buried a five-hole goal behind Vasilevskiy.

The Cardiac Cats forced overtime, but they had to kill off a penalty against the always dangerous Lightning power play. After killing off the penalty, Florida never looked back.

The game winning goal came off of a defensive zone face off that was quickly broken out of the zone. Radko Gudas played an aerial puck towards center ice, which found its way towards Frank Vatrano. Vatrano tipped the puck behind the Lightning defense and Ryan Lomberg bursted into the zone alone on Vasilevskiy. The unsung hero “Lomberghini” beat the former Vezina winner glove side and brought Florida back in this series.

The Cardiac Cats are back and they are ready to try and tie up the series in Game 4. Bobrovsky is the expected starter for Saturday.

5 Takeaways from Panthers Game 1 loss to Lightning

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Tampa Bay Lightning came away with a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of their first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Panthers played a competitive game, but Tampa’s last minute goal sealed the deal on the first game. Here are tonight’s five takeaways.

 

The Crowd

With the home-ice advantage and an increased crowd capacity, the Panthers were feeding off of the crowd energy. Even before the puck dropped, the BB&T Center was electric. Rally towels were waiving, rats were flying onto the ice and the fans’ cheers and boos echoed throughout the arena. 

Every hit, scoring chance and takeaway was followed by excitement from the crowd. One of the biggest reasons why playoff hockey is so exciting is because of the fans and the 9,646 in attendance kept the building rocking all night.

Game 2 will once again be at the BB&T Center. The Panthers faithful will show out as their team is down in the series. 

 

Physical Play was Prevalent 

As said in the 5 keys to the series, you have to play physical and hungry to win the game. Tampa was aggressive, but Florida didn’t let that scare them. From the opening faceoff the entire Panthers team was letting their presence be felt. Even captain Aleksander Barkov wasn’t afraid to throw the body. 

We saw a glimpse of the physical play in the last two games of the season between these two teams. There were 156 penalty minutes in the Panthers 5-1 win on May 8.

It seemed like every few shifts someone was in the penalty box for a roughing penalty. I’ve never seen a game with so many 4-on-4 chances. This is playoff hockey, these two teams don’t like each other, expect more of this.

 

Letting Tampa Set Up

The defending Stanley Cup Champions were as dangerous as ever in the offensive zone. The Lightning converted on three of their power plays tonight, they only scored once when it was 5-on-5.

Their 5-on-5 zone entries were also something that had the Panthers on their heels. When Tampa got some space in the offensive zone, they were able to create quality scoring chances. 

Tampa has too much offensive firepower, if they get the chance to set up, they’ll make you pay, which they did tonight against the Panthers. 

 

Refs gonna Ref

The story of tonight’s game was the officiating. In the opening period, Sam Bennett seemed to have opened the scoring with a power play goal. However, it was quickly waived off for goaltender interference. The replay showed that the puck was loose, the goal should have counted. Tampa immediately scored a short-handed goal, giving them the lead.

There were plenty of questionable calls in this game and it seemed like the Panthers got the short end of the stick. 

The dying minutes of the game saw Ryan Lomberg get tripped in the Lightning zone. What seemed like a penalty was waived off by the referees. Shortly after, Brayden Point scored the game winning goal.

 

The Stars Shined

Both teams are lucky to boast some of the best forwards in the NHL. Tonight, the stars  stepped up for both teams. 

Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov scored two power play goals in his first game of the season. The last time he played was Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals. His teammate Brayden Point also scored tonight for the Lightning. Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Point and Kucherov combined for nine points on the night.

Florida’s top guns didn’t disappoint either. Jonatha Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Sam  Bennett all had multiple points tonight. Huberdeau and Barkov have been on this team for so many years, yet they barely sniffed the postseason. We said in our 5 keys to the series, you need to get your big boys on the board early. Safe to say the Panthers and Lightning did just that. 

Florida acquires defenseman Brandon Montour from Buffalo

/0 Comments/in /by

The Florida Panthers have acquired 26-year-old defenseman Brandon Montour from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a third round pick. The trade was first reported by David Pagnotta. Kevin Weekes added on, saying the return was a third round pick. 

 

Montour has one year remaining on his $3.85 million contract, he will be a UFA this offseason.

 

The Brantford, Ont. native was selected 55th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2014 NHL Draft. He was traded to Buffalo for a first-round pick and Brendan Guhle at the 2019 NHL trade deadline. 

 

This season in Buffalo, Montour had 14 points in 38 games and was a minus 13. The Sabres are currently sitting at the bottom of the NHL and rank near the bottom of the league in team defense.

 

Montour’s best season came in 2017-2018 when he put up 32 points in 80 games with the Ducks.

 

The NHL trade deadline is two days away on April 12.

Florida Panthers make deal, clear cap space

/0 Comments/in /by

The Florida Panthers have acquired forward Lucas Wallmark and defenseman Lucas Carlsson from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for forwards Brett Connolly, Henrik Borgstrom, defenseman Riley Stillman and a seventh-round pick, as reported by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

 

Wallmark, 25, played in seven regular season games as well as two playoff games for the Cats last season after he was acquired from Carolina as part of the Vincent Trocheck trade. Wallmark appeared in 16 games for Chicago this season, he will be a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) after this year. His current cap hit is $950k.

 

Carlsson, 23, split time between Chicago and their AHL affiliate, Rockford. He will also be an RFA after this season. The Swedish defenseman’s current cap hit is $792,500. 

 

Connolly has been in and out of the Panthers’ lineup all season. He has bounced between the active roster and taxi squad. The trade clears his $3.5 million AAV contract which was set to run through the 2022-2023 season. The 28-year-old had 4 points in 21 games this season with the Panthers.

 

Stillman, 23, played in eight games this season and has only played in 43 total games in his NHL career. The Panthers drafted Stillman 114th overall in the 2016 draft.

 

Borgstrom, also 23, was Florida’s 2016 first-round pick. The Finnish prospect only appeared in 54 games with the Panthers since he was drafted. Borgstrom is currently playing for HIFK in Liiga, Finland’s pro league.

 

With this trade, Florida clears additional cap space for both this season and for the future. Aleksander Barkov’s contract expires after next season, Jonathan Huberdeau’s deal expires after the 2022-2023 season. Capfriendly has Florida’s deadline capspace north of $18 million after these moves. 

 

The NHL trade deadline is April 12.

Panthers win an afterthought after injury to Aaron Ekblad

/0 Comments/in /by

The Florida Panthers completed the sweep on Dallas this weekend with a 4-1 win against the Stars on Sunday night. Unfortunately for the Cats, this win was an afterthought after their star defenseman Aaron Ekblad went down with an injury midway through the second period.

 

Ekblad took an awkward fall near the boards after a collision with a Stars player and had to be taken off the ice with a stretcher. 

 

The 25-year-old has been with the team since 2014 when he was selected first overall by the Panthers in the 2014 NHL draft. Ekblad was having a career year this season, currently he is tied for the league lead in goals by a defenseman with 11 and is ranked top 20 in points for his position.

 

As of now, we do not know how much time Ekblad will miss. Any amount of time without him is a big loss for the Panthers, he leads all skaters in total ice time, averaging 25:31 a game and is the team’s number one defenseman. 

 

On top of Ekblad’s injury, captain Aleksander Barkov has been out the last four games with a lower body injury and Patric Hornqvist has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury.

Panthers fall to Lightning in physical rematch

/0 Comments/in /by

At the end of the first period, the Florida Panthers were probably at least satisfied with their performance. They were scoreless, but so were the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

At the end of the second, the Panthers were down 4-0 en route to a demoralizing 6-1 loss on Saturday night at the BB&T Center. 

The Lightning suffered an embarrassing 5-2 loss on Thursday night to the Panthers, their Central Division rivals. Apparently, they had had enough. Even without captain Steven Stamkos, Tampa was able to put together a litany of scoring chances in the second period that Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was simply unable to stop. Conversely, the Cats couldn’t find a way to get past Andrei Vasilevskiy, who totaled 33 total saves for a .971 save percentage. 

The lone Panthers goal of the night came in the third period when Brett Connolly and Frank Vatrano teamed up to slide one past Andrei Vasilevskiy. But the celebration was short-lived. Less than a minute later Tampa’s Alexander Volkov scored the Lightning’s fifth of the night, effectively squashing any desperate hopes at an unlikely but not completely impossible comeback for Florida.

“We lost our composure when they got ahead,” head coach Joel Quenville said. “The game just got away from us.”

Both Radko Gudas and Patric Hornqvist made their own attempts to turn the tide by dropping gloves with Blake Coleman and Yanni Gourde respectively but all efforts fell short. MacKenzie Weegar also scuffled with Killorn late in the first and the two exchanged words even after moving to the box. 

The loss keeps the Panthers (8-2-2) at the second position in the Central Division behind the Lightning (10-2-1). They play the third game of the series in Tampa Bay on Monday.

Five Takeaways from Florida Panthers’ win over Blue Jackets

/0 Comments/in /by

The Florida Panthers came out on top of a wild comeback thriller against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. This was Florida’s first game in a week after their two game series against Carolina was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Hurricanes organization. Florida looked like the stronger team tonight but it wasn’t the prettiest of wins. Here are the takeaways from the game.

 

#1: Sergei Bobrovsky’s play put the Panthers in a hole early on.

 

After a subpar 2019-2020 campaign with the Panthers, the $70 million goalie looks like he hasn’t changed. In the opening minutes of the game, Bobrovsky gave up two weak goals on Columbus’ first two shots. After the Panthers clawed back to make it a 2-2 game, Bobrovsky let in a short handed goal on another saveable puck. The two-time Vezina winner couldn’t seem to find his groove in regulation despite his team keeping Columbus to just 17 shots through three periods. Bob stood his ground in the overtime and shootout, but he didn’t help his team at all by giving up those early goals. If his performance continues to hinder the team like this, promoting Chris Dreidger to the starter shouldn’t be out of the question.

 

#2: The penalty kill was spectacular, going 6/6.

 

It’s never a good sight when your team takes six penalties in a game. Luckily for Florida, their 12 penalty minutes didn’t lead to a goal against. The penalty kill (pk) unit was able to not only kill off all the penalties, but also generate a few short handed chances the other way. Each time Florida killed a penalty, it completely took the momentum away from Columbus. One of the six penalty kills came during the overtime when Frank Vatrano took a tripping penalty. The team had to kill a 4-on-3 to stay alive in the game. Last season the Panthers penalty kill ranked twentieth in the NHL with a 78.49 penalty killing percentage. An improved pk unit will be extremely valuable down the stretch in this condensed season. 

 

#3: New Panthers shine once again.

 

Florida’s team looks completely different this season. The offseason acquisitions of Carter Verhaeghe, Patric Hornqvist, Alexander Wennberg and Anthony Duclair paid dividends tonight against Columbus. The four first-year Panthers combined for six points, while Hornqvist got the game-tying goal with two seconds left in regulation and the shootout winner. Florida moved to 3-0-0 for the first time in franchise history.

 

#4: The first line controlled the game from the jump.

 

Aleksander Barkov is known around the league as one of the best two-way centres in the game. Heading into this season, head coach Joel Quenneville decided to split up Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau to provide more balance across the top 6. As they did against Chicago, the line of Barkov, Verhaeghe and Duclair controlled the game. Columbus couldn’t find a way to stop the constant pressure from this unit. Between Verhaeghe winning loose puck battles, Duclair walking past defenders and Barkov ripping pucks towards goal, this line was nothing short of dominant. The three of them combined for two goals and five points on the night. 

 

#5: Aleksander Barkov was more aggressive.

 

Throughout his career, Barkov has never been a selfish player, sometimes he was too unselfish for his own benefit. In the past Barkov often looked to dish the puck to his teammates rather than taking the shot himself. It looked like Barkov flipped a switch tonight, he came into the game with a shooter’s mentality. The captain led the game with eight shots on goal and found the back of the net once on a beautiful shot from the slot. An aggressive Barkov will keep goalies guessing and it will ultimately help evolve his game more as a two-way playmaking centre.  

Florida Panthers are own worst enemy in loss to Toronto

/0 Comments/in /by

This is a game that the Florida Panthers should have won. Furthermore, it was inexcusable loss. After being up 3-1, the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four straight goals.

Kasperi Kapanen scored a goal with 2:17 in the first period on the power play to make it a 3-2 game. Defensively, the Florida Panthers looked discombobulated, as Kapanen’s shot deflected off Aaron Ekblad. The Panthers could never clear out of the zone and that resulted in a goal. Things got tighter, but the Panthers had ample opportunities to close the door.

Austin Matthews made the game a bit tighter as he was able to find the puck out of traffic in front of the net and put it home to make it a 3-3 game. That was scored with 18:58 left in the first period.

From there, it was a complete collapse for the Florida Panthers. After a scoreless second period for both clubs, Toronto managed to score two goals in the third.

William Nylander’s go-ahead goal was thanks to a turnover in the Florida zone  from Frank Vatrano. Again, it was more of the same for Florida. They just could not seem to clear it out of their own zone, and Toronto capitalized. This is exactly what I was afraid of. The goal by Nylander made it a 4-3 game.

The final goal was an empty-netter scored by Justin Holt. That just added more salt to the wound.

The Florida Panthers were their own worst enemy

Overall, it was another frustrating game where the defense could just not keep it together. Not only that, Florida kept shooting themselves in the foot. Turnovers in their own zone, combined with sloppy puck control led to a mess.

It would be easy to blame Sergei Bobrovsky. He did the best he could with the difficult situation Thursday. He had 24 saves on the evening.

This is exactly what I was afraid of. The Florida Panthers have been their own worst enemy many times this season. Toronto is a team with talent that can capitalize. They did that Thursday . Florida is a team that is very talented. However, if they keep making the same mistakes defensively, they will not get very far. This is a young team for sure. However, the Panthers don’t have much room to play with. They shot themselves in the foot tonight in a game that was a crucial one.

I hate to say this, but kudos to Toronto. They kept playing hard throughout the course of the game, and forced Florida to make untimely errors. They kept attacking, and it worked.

Florida needs to fix their mistakes quickly, particularly defensively. Puck management in their own zone should be a focal point practice before they take the ice against Chicago on Saturday.

Florida Panthers: Defense will need to be on their toes against Toronto

/0 Comments/in /by

The Florida Panthers have a tough contest ahead of them as the Toronto Maple Leafs are next up on the schedule Thursday. After losing to a Zamboni driver on Saturday, the Maple Leafs fared much better in their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Beating Tampa Bay 4-3, they had into Thursday’s action with a couple of hot goal scorers.

For starters, look no further than John Tavares. He had two goals on Tuesday, showing just how explosive he is and how consistent he has been over the past couple of years.  He has recorded five points in his last five games.

In the month of February, Mitch Marner has had a fantastic time finding the goal-scorers. He has recorded two goals and 10 assists so far in the month. He had an assist on Tuesday night against Tampa Bay. With the assist, he has now recorded three points in his last five games.

Although the Toronto Maple Leafs may struggle with consistency, they are still a team full of potent scorers. The real question is to whether they will show up each and every night.

Florida Panthers need to play strong defense to counter speed

Even with the inconsistencies, the Florida Panthers have to play better defense on Thursday. Defense has not been a strong suit for them this year. As result, Bobrovsky  he has struggled. He had a great game on Tuesday however, giving up one goal to the Arizona Coyotes in what was a 2-1 win. In 60 minutes of play, he made 37 saves. This was certainly an improvement from some of his past starts.

This Toronto team skates fast and shoots often. Borovsky is going to need to be on top his game, and I don’t trust the Florida defense to get back in time. This is a very balanced Toronto team who will need to capitalize on mistakes.

The Florida Panthers will need to be on their toes all game. This will be a crucial  game for the defense, and a win on Thursday could do wonders in boosting the conference. As long as Florida plays back and focuses  on staying in front of their man, they should be able to have a chance at success.

Florida Panthers: Team needs to test Darcy Kuemper early and often

/0 Comments/in /by

As the Florida Panthers get set to take on the Arizona Coyotes  they have a golden chance to pick up a victory. Arizona will be sending out goalie Darcy Kuemper. If I’m Florida, I am licking my chops.

Kuemper has not played in a game in more than two months due to a lower-body injury. He was called up from AHL Tucson on Sunday. Prior to his injury, he was playing extremely well. He recorded a 15-8  mark and had a 2.17 goals-against average. He tallied a .929 save percentage in 25 starts.

This is a golden opportunity for Florida to make an impact and get the lead early. As good as Kuemper was prior to his injury, he hasn’t seen NHL action in a while. The Panthers need to make sure to get pucks on him early.

Florida is only seven points out of a playoff spot. Columbus currently holds the second wild-card spot with 76 points. Florida currently has 70 on the season. They come into Tuesday’s action having lost two games in a row. Arizona is sitting comfortably in the second wild-card spot, having beaten Tampa Bay 7-3 on Saturday.

Florida Panthers need to test Arizona Coyotes goalie

The Florida Panthers need to make sure they test Kuemper early. Creating traffic in front of the net will be key. Screens  will be crucial offensively.  Shielding his vision via screens and moving in front of the net will be paramount for Florida.

Driving towards the net instead of taking simple shots from the point should be a focus. That will put more pressure on Kuemper Injury or not, Kuemper has proven to be a solid goaltender. He is not going to be beaten  easily.

The offensive output for Florida is going to need to be strong. Here they have a golden opportunity to face a goalie who is trying to get his game going again. They need to be active and shoot frequently. Getting pucks towards the net and creating traffic should  lead to success.

The Florida Panthers need this win, and they have an opportunity to make it happen.