The Florida Panthers are about to find out how quickly a road trip can reset a season’s rhythm.
After dropping their home opener 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, the Panthers are headed back out for a back-to-back, starting Monday against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center at 1 p.m. ET and finishing Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Florida is 2-1-2 through five games, and while the first regulation loss stung, the bigger picture still points to a team that has handled the road well so far. The Panthers have picked up points in all four of their away games to open the season, going 2-0-2.
“We know with our game, it's going to come,” Gustav Forsling said after Sunday’s practice at Baptist Health IcePlex. “It's just a matter of time here. We’ve just got to stick with our game.”
That belief has been backed up by the numbers, especially at five-on-five. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Florida owns a 56.94% offensive advantage in those situations, which ranks sixth in the NHL, along with a 57.14% edge in high-danger chances, good for seventh. The shot chart has followed suit, with the Panthers holding an 86-66 advantage at five-on-five.
“All the games have been tight games, and I feel like our five-on-five game has been really
solid,” said Forsling. ”We don't give up much.”
The Panthers also got a welcome bit of relief on Sunday with Eetu Luostarinen back on the ice after leaving Saturday’s game when he was hit by a shot in the third period and did not return. The sight of him skating at practice eased the concern around what looked like a potentially bigger problem.
“He gets hit with a lot of pucks because he's not afraid to go to the net,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Luostarinen. “He's blocked a lot of shots, broke his leg once doing it, so we kind of hold our breath.
Then he's walking around the next day and everything's good, so that's just his life. He's going to be a penalty-killing shot blocker, and he's a net front guy.
He's going to take some pucks.”
Luostarinen has been productive through the opening stretch, averaging 15:29 of ice time while recording two goals, eight shots, and nine hits. He also leads all Panthers forwards with five blocked shots.
Sunday’s practice gave a glimpse of the group Florida is planning to roll with on this trip. The forward lines featured Brady Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Tkachuk together; Carter Verhaeghe with Sam Reinhart and Sam Lafferty; Luostarinen with Anton Lundell and Sandis Vilmanis; and Boko Imama with Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway.
On defense, the pairs were Gustav Forsling with Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola with Seth Jones, and Dmitry Kulikov with Radko Gudas, with Uvis Balinskis also on the ice. Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid were listed in goal.
In Other News...
Panthers-Sabres Took A Sudden Turn When Dahlin Left
Buffalo entered Mondays matinee against Florida already trying to steady a slow start, and the game took an even tougher turn when captain Rasmus Dahlin was forced out. The Sabres defenseman has opened the season with three points in four games, continuing to set the tone from the blue line after a strong prior campaign that helped push Buffalo into the playoffs and landed him third in Norris Trophy voting.
For a Sabres team sitting at 2-3-0 and seventh in the Atlantic Division, losing Dahlin in the middle of a game against one of the leagues more tested teams only adds to the pressure. Buffalo announced after he exited that he was dealing with an upper-body injury, leaving the club to sort through what his absence could mean if the issue lingers beyond this matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Finally Get A Look At Their Most Intriguing New Combo
Paul Maurice has been tinkering with a look that could give Florida a very different edge, sliding Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk alongside Sam Bennett. The Panthers coach has spent enough time searching for the right combinations to know when something has a little juice to it, and this one has already shown a flash of the kind of energy Maurice has been after.
The three briefly surfaced together in a recent game, and even in that short stretch the line made itself felt in a way that fit Floridas personality. There is a natural edge when the Tkachuks are on the ice at the same time, and Maurice is now set to give the setup another run against Buffalo, with the Panthers curious to see whether a burst of physicality can turn into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Power Play Suddenly Looks Like A Problem They Can't Ignore
The early-season numbers have been hard to ignore for Florida, and the power play is sitting near the top of that list for all the wrong reasons. Through the opening stretch of the 2024-25 season, the Panthers have had trouble turning extra chances into momentum, and coach Paul Maurice has already pointed to broader issues in the teams play, from defensive lapses to a lack of finishing. He has been working through different line combinations in search of something that settles the unit down and makes it more dangerous.
Buffalo comes in with its own shaky power-play start, so this meeting offers a chance for both clubs to find a little traction with the man advantage. For the Panthers, though, the concern is bigger than one matchup. When a team built to control games spends this much time chasing the simplest conversion, it becomes a problem that can spill into every shift, and Florida does not look ready to let that slide much longer. [Read more 🡒]