Matthew Tkachuk has scored in consecutive games, logging 10 points over his past nine outings
Matthew Tkachuk has scored in consecutive games, logging 10 points over his past nine outings
For the first time since they started making annual business trips to T-Mobile Arena, the Florida Panthers are leaving Las Vegas with more points than they arrived with.
Playing much the game in a tough building without several key players, Florida rallied around one another and earned an impressive 4-1 win over the Golden Knights.
Several elements of the Panthers game had to go right in order for them to skate off into the sunset as victors, and that’s exactly what happened.
The power play continued to come up big – now 7-for-18 over Florida’s past four games – as did goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 26 saves, including 5 of 6 high danger shots, on a night Vegas’ expected goals was 2.71, per Natural Stat Trick.
We could dive into either of those, but that’s not where we’re going with our takeaways from T-Mobile.
PK fuels win
There are several reasons why Florida’s penalty kill played as big a part as anything else in Thursday’s 4-1 victory in Las Vegas.
There were the timely kills, like before Florida mounted its comeback, or the nearly two full minutes of 5-on-3 that ended without Vegas cracking the scoreboard.
Also, let’s not forget that the majority of those kills came without Panthers captain Sasha Barkov on the ice after he left the game late in the first period with an upper-body injury.
“It was one of my favorite games of the year because we come out and they can get hot and we're behind it, so first we’ve got to right the ship,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said afterwards. “Our (first) powerplay goal is really important, but then you lose two really important pieces to your lineup, two-thirds of your top line, and you get the huge penalty kills. Sasha Barkov is big part of our penalty kill, so guys stepped up there, and between (Sergei) Bobrovsky and some shot blocks and a lot of heavy lifting by the penalty killers, 5-on-3’s are almost layups in this league now, and to get two of them done, and then the power play takes over and we settle into a 5-on-5 game.”
A player’s victory
There were plenty of reasons to count Florida out of Thursday’s game, even before the injuries started to hit.
Vegas came out of the gate like gangbusters, opening a 1-0 lead on a 10-1 shot advantage in the opening minutes.
Then Rodrigues and Barkov went down, and all this was happening in a building Florida was 0-for-8 in trying to collect a win, including all three Stanley Cup Final contests last June.
Against the odds, Florida’s players rallied around each other and pulled off one of the more impressive wins in recent memory.
“The best part of the game was the bench, because they were up against it and cheering for each other pulling for each other,” Maurice said. “It's fun to be behind the bench…It's just fun to be a part of the game where the players got their own thing going on. It's all about them and they know they're up against it and they're on the road and it's fun.”
Tkachuk turning a corner
Don’t look now but Matthew Tkachuk is starting to look like the Hart Trophy finalist that nearly led Florida to the mountaintop a season ago.
Let us not forget that while he did start the season on time, Tkachuk spent the summer recovering from several injuries, including the broken sternum he suffered during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
After opening the season with just five goals in his first 36 games, Tkachuk has now lit the lamp in consecutive outings and has six points over a four-game points streak.
Through 38 games, Tkachuk is up to 7 goals and 30 points, though 10 of those 30 points have come in his past nine games.
On Thursday in Vegas, he appeared to be fully in his element, physically active and verbally engaged both his teammates and with chirping the Golden Knights.
“I think he just loves it; I think that that's what gets him going,” Maurice said of Tkachuk. “He was leading, too, and talking on the bench and pumping tires. I love the fact that he shot that puck on the 2-on-1, that's the confidence that's coming back. I think he's probably at about nine to 10 points in his last nine games, so you can see it coming.”
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