No signs of rust from Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour following season debuts
Montour and Ekbald didn't appear to skip a beat after each missed the first 16 games of the season
The Florida Panthers blueline received a big boost on Friday night in Anaheim.
Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour each made their 2023-24 debuts for the Panthers after missing the first 16 games of the season.
Both players underwent shoulder surgery back in June following Florida’s remarkable run to the Stanley Cup Final and have been slowly but surely working their way back to full strength.
While the Panthers have been missing the two high-end rearguards, the team has still been able to find results, earning a 10-5-1 record and sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division.
It didn’t take long on Friday for Montour and Ekbald to make their presence felt as each found the puck on their tape below the circles during the first half of the opening period in Anaheim.
Montour’s look was blocked by former Panther Frank Vatrano while Ekblad shot was denied by the glove of Ducks goaltender John Gibson.
“They were really good, especially early,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said of Ekblad and Montour.
As the game went on, the two veterans appeared to be comfortable, confident and in control, showing no signs of rust from not playing in a game in five months.
In terms of defensive pairings, Maurice elected to split up the returning defensemen, lining up Montour with Niko Mikkola and Ekblad with Gus Forsling.
They both played over 20 minutes in their respective debuts, with Montour leading the team in time on ice with 24:02.
“There's just a whole bunch of small puck movement things that they do that left-handed defensemen can't do as easily,” said Maurice. “They were a big part of some of our offensive zone motion early in the game.”
In terms of power play usage, Ekblad and Montour were sent out together on Florida’s PP2.
Considering Florida’s recent struggles while on the man advantage, it wouldn’t be surprising to see one of both of them bumped up to the top unit in the coming days.
Taking a peek into the advanced metrics of the two defensemen from Friday’s victory, the numbers indicate it was a solid outing for each at even strength.
According to Natural Stat Trick, scoring chances were 10-8 in favor of Florida with Ekblad on the ice and 9-7 when Montour was out there, and high danger chances were 6-3 for the Cats during Ekblad’s shifts and even at 3-3 during Montour’s ice time.
Ekblad also tied for the team lead with four shots on goal while Montour finished with 2 shots and a plus-1 rating.
“Those guys will just keep getting better,” said Maurice.
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