After stumbling through the opening stretch of the season, the Florida Panthers have suddenly made a habit of hitting the scoreboard first - and they’re doing it early enough to put the game on their terms.
That was the glaring problem for Florida over the first few weeks: not enough first-period offense, and far too many nights spent digging out of holes. Through their first 12 games entering Tuesday’s matchup with the Winnipeg Jets, the Panthers had managed just eight first-period goals.
Even that number is a little deceptive, because six of those eight came in the previous four games. Before that run, Florida had scored only once in the opening period over its first five games.
The slow starts showed up in another brutal way, too. After opening the year with a 1-0 overtime win in Carolina, Florida didn’t take a 1-0 lead again until its ninth game.
In between, the Panthers went seven straight games allowing the first goal. They still managed a 3-2-2 record in those contests, but they were forced to play from behind night after night.
“Everybody plays slightly different when you’re chasing the game,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. “You’re trying to win, so if you’re down by one or down by two, your game has to open up a little bit. I think we’ve been pretty strong at not having that happen.”
Lately, though, the script has changed. Florida scored three times in the opening period against the Seattle Kraken last Saturday, added another first-period goal in Ottawa, and followed that with two more in Chicago on Sunday. Then came Tuesday in Winnipeg, where the Panthers put up three in the opening 20 minutes again.
That stretch has produced nine first-period goals over five games, and five of them have come on the power play. Two of Tuesday’s three opening-period goals against the Jets came with the man advantage, another sign that the special teams have started to click after a sluggish beginning.
“It is very nice,” Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said of playing with an early lead. “We played coming from behind quite a bit to start the season, so any time we get that first goal, it just plays into the game that we want. We want them to take chances, we want to be solid defensively and to capitalize on their mistakes.”
Carter Verhaeghe pointed to the fast start against Winnipeg as a big reason Florida could settle in quickly.
“I think right out of the gate, we came out moving the puck well, putting pucks in deep and drew a couple power plays, and that helped getting the first one and getting a little lead there,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe. “We just took off from there.”
The Panthers now head back to South Florida for a three-game homestand that will keep them local for more than a week. Their next opponents are familiar ones: Winnipeg, Chicago and the Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks have allowed 3.67 goals per game, third-most in the league, while Winnipeg is giving up an even three per game and Detroit sits at 2.92.
Florida will get its next chance to keep the offense rolling on Friday, when it hosts the Jets in a rematch.
In Other News...
Panthers Look Dangerous For One Big Reason After Jets Rout
The Panthers got exactly the kind of emphatic response they were looking for, rolling past Winnipeg 5-1 behind a power play that looked every bit as dangerous as advertised. Carter Verhaeghe set the tone with a pair of early man-advantage goals, while Matthew Tkachuk kept pucks moving and chances coming as Florida built control of the game. Brady Tkachuk, Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart also found the net, giving the Panthers the sort of balanced scoring night that can make them tough to track when they get rolling.
For a team that has spent much of the season trying to stay sharp on special teams, this was a reminder of how much damage Florida can do when it turns pressure into goals. Winnipeg had little answer after Adam Lowrys lone tally, and the Jets have now dropped six straight, but the bigger takeaway for the Panthers was the way they dictated terms with the extra attacker. When Verhaeghe is finishing plays and Matthew Tkachuk is stacking up setup chances, Florida starts to look less like a team that can win and more like one opponents have to survive. [Read more 🡒]
Brady Tkachuks Message In Ottawa Adds To A Brutal Panthers Night
Brady Tkachuks return to Ottawa already carried plenty of edge, and it got even sharper once he beat his former club on the scoreboard. The Panthers forward has long been part of the emotional undercurrent in this rivalry, and the night had the kind of feisty feel that tends to follow him whenever he comes back to face the Senators.
What stood out afterward was the way the game seemed to swing hard in Ottawas direction after Tkachuks goal. Senators owner Michael Andlauer said Tkachuk had a message for the bench, and from there the night only got rougher for Florida as Ottawa answered with five straight goals to put the game out of reach. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Catch Winnipeg At A Desperate Time In This Road Test
Florida heads into Winnipeg catching the Jets in an uneasy spot, with a road trip that suddenly looks a lot less routine than it did a week ago. The Panthers are coming off a win over the Blackhawks and now get a club trying to steady itself after a stretch of close losses, all by a single goal, in a season where offense has been hard to find and key players have not produced at the level Winnipeg needs.
The matchup also comes with an added layer of uncertainty for the home side, which has had to keep adjusting as the roster and lineup have shifted. For Florida, it is the kind of game that can turn into a statement road test if it can keep the pressure on a team already searching for answers and avoid letting a desperate opponent turn the building into a factor. [Read more 🡒]