The Panthers look to stay red-hot as they embark on a lengthy Canadian/Pacific Northwest road-trip, kicking off tonight in Calgary; a Flames team they beat 6-2 earlier this month.
This road test is coming at a perfect time my opinion. The Panthers are playing unbelievable hockey. They seem to have tapped back into that early season form, and then some…16 goals in two games (last Friday and Saturday) is no easy feat in the NHL. But how about this stat?
50 goals in las 8 games
Go ahead and read that again.
These guys have figured out a formula that has catapulted their play into the hockey stratosphere. But it’s not just the X’s and O’s. This team has figured out how to mesh the technical aspects of the game with their attitude. They have become a juggernaut on the ice that executes at a high-level, has fun doing it, and counties to play like they’re down three goals - despite how how big their lead is.
They apex predator they have become is a far cry from the pussycats they were not long ago.
For as long as you have been fans, did you ever think people would be taking notice of the Panthers for all the right reasons?
Well, they are…the whole hockey world (other players/teams, media, fans, etc) has Florida on their radar.
And how could they not? In back-to-back games this past weekend, they amassed 90 shots on net, 16 goals, and had 11 with at least two points. Add to that Huby’s play of late, which has been incredible. I have changed his name from “Huby” to the “T-11” because he’s a machine (just like the Terminator)!
The Cats’ .750 points percentage is the best in the league and paints a picture beyond the big names of the T-11, Barky, Ekblad, Bob, etc. It shows an entire team effort. From the lead actors to the supporting cast and behind-the-scenes crew. Everyone is producing for this Panthers team and the proof is in the pudding.
I think
Sportsnet said it best:
“
Like rats being chucked on the ice from every part of the arena, Florida is coming at you from all conceivable angles right now. High-pick studs like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aaron Ekblad have established themselves as truly elite. The only players with more points than the 53 put up by Huberdeau this season are Hart Trophy-holders Alex Ovechkin (54) and Leon Draisaitl (also 54).
Rookie Anton Lundell, selected 12th overall in 2020, has 11 points in his past nine games and is looking like the kind of mid-round hit really good franchises make.
MacKenzie Weegar had four points in the win over Columbus and his 25 points this year are more than all but 11 defencemen have; how’s that for a guy selected 206th overall almost a decade ago in 2013?
Another ’13 pick — left winger Carter Verhaeghe — is playing at a 69-point pace for the second straight season in South Florida. The long-ago Toronto Maple Leafs selection came to the Cats via the Lightning and is exactly the type of rehabilitated scrap-heap guy that used to slip through Florida’s fingers. (Think Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault). Now, the Panthers are a vehicle for talents like Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair — five NHL stops in five years before Florida, point-per-game player today — to show what they can really do.
Both Sams — Bennett and Reinhart — are having career years after being plucked from places where it either wasn’t working personally (Bennett) or from a team perspective (Reinhart).
Even Florida’s splashy free-agent acquisitions are coming up roses, albeit after a couple rough acclimation years. Sergei Bobrovsky, the $10-million man, has a .921 save percentage overall and the third-best high-danger save percentage (.857) in the league among stoppers with at least 1,000 minutes in the crease.
Don’t forget, this is a team that experienced a coaching change earlier this season when Joel Quenneville had to step down after everything related to the sexual abuse suffered by former NHLer Kyle Beach during the latter’s time playing under Quenneville in Chicago came to light. Andrew Brunette has stepped in and shown he has the chops to be a head man.
Quenneville aside, even the off-ice stories have been good for Florida this year. Right before the season started, the 26-year-old Barkov inked an eight-year extension that will keep him in the Sunshine State for all his best NHL hockey. The hope is — under the stewardship of GM Bill Zito and wiling-to-open-the-wallet owner Vincent Viola — that an extension for Huberdeau will follow suit long before he gets to free agency in 2023.
You can’t talk big-picture about the Panthers without mentioning their dubious status as the team with the longest playoff series victory drought; not a single one since making the Stanley Cup Final in 1996. That outfit was a plucky bunch of underdogs. By contrast, today’s team is overflowing with talent and offering every indication the one remaining bad discussion about this club could change dramatically come spring.”
And so we come to my point about this road trip coming at just the right time…
We know the Panthers dominate at home, but like the mighty Achilles, their “heel” has been away games.
They charge into this road trip with confidence at an all time high. You can’t play better than the Cats have been doing lately. It’s with this level of play they face their greatest foe - the road - and I believe that if they have a successful trip, they will have fixed their biggest weak point. We can debate special teams issues, etc., but I’m talking from an overall team perspective.
So let’s keep this train moving!
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Also, I know the ASW is coming up, but I’ve never cared for it. Does anyone actually get jazzed about it?
Go Panthers!
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