The Florida Panthers are heading into a stretch that will test both their legs and their patience.
They open a three-game road trip Saturday afternoon in Washington, and by the time it ends Tuesday in Columbus, they’ll have played 13 of their first 19 games away from Sunrise. The schedule has already been heavy on travel, and it only gets more demanding from here.
Florida’s record has them in the mix for a wild-card spot if the season stopped today, but the path to that position has come with a caveat: the Panthers haven’t exactly been beating up on the league’s best. Of their 16 games so far, only four have come against teams currently in playoff position - Carolina, Seattle, Ottawa and Minnesota. The results there were mixed, with an overtime win over Carolina, a win over Seattle and losses to Ottawa and Minnesota.
The recent four wins in five games tell a similar story. Two came against Chicago and two against Winnipeg, all against teams sitting well below .500.
In between those wins was a loss to Detroit without star Dylan Larkin. On the last road trip, Florida also took lopsided losses to an improved Ottawa club and a struggling Pittsburgh team.
That makes the next few days a real measuring stick. Boston, the Atlantic Division leader, is the toughest opponent waiting in the trip, but Washington and Columbus aren’t soft spots either. Washington and Boston are on back-to-back afternoons, which at least gives the Panthers a cleaner travel setup and a better chance to get to Boston at a reasonable hour and rest properly.
Niko Mikkola, at least, likes the timing.
“It’s prime time in Finland so everybody - friends and family - can watch it a little bit easier,’’ he said before Friday’s flight. “I really like those games.”
The compressed schedule leaves little room for anything beyond recovery and quick adjustments. Paul Maurice had the Panthers on the ice Friday morning, and he pointed out that their next practice is not “until the 19th of November” he said.
That’s a long gap, thirteen days without a practice, so any lineup tweaks will have to be handled in pregame skates rather than full sessions. For Saturday, Maurice doesn’t sound like he’s planning to tinker after the Chicago win.
“Not planned as of now,’’ he said. “I’ve got a couple of game-timers. We’ll see.”
Washington arrives with a strong start of its own. The Capitals are 12-4-1 and sitting first in the Atlantic Division. David Pastrnak has eight goals and 22 points in 17 games, and he has a history of producing well against Florida.
The Capitals also have other weapons around Alex Ovechkin, who may not be the player he once was, but Washington has gotten good early-season work from Dylan Strome and newly acquired Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch.
Columbus, meanwhile, has been getting unexpected production from veterans Kent Johnson and Charlie Coyle, while Zach Werenski remains the foundation. Werenski was last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman.
The numbers underline how different these opponents are. Washington sits in the top half of the NHL in scoring, while Columbus is near the bottom. Florida, for its part, has played only one of the NHL’s top dozen offensive teams so far - Carolina - and has still managed a mid-pack scoring rate at 3.25 goals per game.
The defensive side has held up better. Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid have helped keep Florida’s goals-against average under 3.00, which places the club in the NHL’s top 10.
The Panthers’ challenge now is simple enough to say and harder to do: keep banking points before the schedule turns even tougher. Travel may ease up later, but the quality of the opposition is only going to rise. In that sense, every point now matters just as much as one earned down the line.
FLORIDA PANTHERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS
When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
Where: Capital One Arena; Washington, DC
Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM. Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
This Season - At Washington: Saturday; Nov. 27.
At Florida: Feb. 3
Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 70-49-14, 9 ties
Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday vs. Boston Bruins, 1 p.m.
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