Three takeaways: Panthers successful road trip result of strong goaltending, confident penalty kill
Florida's goalies were brilliant this week, stopping 72 of the 74 shots they faced
It’s not often a team will play three games in four nights and come away feeling good about the results.
Those chances are even less likely when all three games come on the road against divisional opponents.
No matter to the Florida Panthers, who just traveled through Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal over the past four nights and came out with five of a possible six points, capped off by Thursday’s 5-1 trouncing of the Canadiens.
It’s an impressive feat, and it takes us right into our first takeaway.
A successful roadie
The Panthers left South Florida on Sunday with a very specific mindset.
They were viewing the road trip as though each outing was a playoff game, bringing a very serious, focused, and familiar energy to every meeting, practice and game.
Were the Panthers perfect? No. But they got results.
When it comes to the postseason, pretty games are difficult to come by. All that matters is coming out on top.
“These are divisional games, these are huge,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said Thursday. “We tried to look at this as a three-game playoff block and get the hard back into our game. It wasn't like it was missing – we had played a really good game against Boston and we just weren't very good against Winnipeg – we just kind of needed to refocus. I think we played our best game against Ottawa, probably our second base game actually in Toronto, and we played a smart game through two periods (in Montreal), and then when we started shooting the puck, that was probably the difference.”
Strong goaltending duo
A great team needs great goaltending, and that’s exactly what the Panthers received from their tandem of tendies this week.
Sergei Bobrovsky earned a pair of wins and a shutout, stopping 41 of the 42 shots he faced in Ottawa and Montreal.
Anthony Stolarz was brilliant in Toronto, making 31 saves, including 12 of 13 high-danger shots sent his way, on a night where his expected goals against was 4.12.
For those not keeping score at home, the Panthers gave up a grand total of two goals during their three-game trip, with the goaltenders combining to stop 72 of 74 shots against.
And really, it’s just par for the course.
Both of Florida’s goalies have been equally strong and consistent this season and are clearly a big reason why Maurice’s club has remained toward the top of the Atlantic Division standings all year.
“I like the way they treat each other; I like the way those two guys practice,” Maurice said. “They practice hard and challenge the shooters. They're really competitive in their own way. It sets a nice tone for us in the net.”
Penalty kill on fire
Swagger isn’t a word you usually think of when talking about a penalty kill, but here we are.
The Panthers have killed an impressive 26 consecutive penalties over their past six games, including all 18 power plays they faced during the road trip.
Is that kind of success sustainable?
While it’s hard to see the unit going the rest of the season without giving up a power play goal, there are reasons to believe that they could remain one of the dominant PK groups in the NHL.
“Our numbers were way worse than our (effort), but we also had all brand new people,” Maurice said of Florida’s early season penalty killing. “And (then) we put Aaron Ekblad back in the lineup, and (Sam) Bennett had been out and so had been (Sasha) Barkov, two centermen, that changes almost everything. So now you start to get some confidence, and your penalty killing is absolutely no different than your power play. Your confidence is every bit as important because when you're confident in both units, you're fast. Our power play was slow tonight because it's had some wobbles in the first 25 games, but our penalty kill now has got confidence, it’s got speed and it's got pace.”
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