Three takeaways: Redemption for the penalty kill, Stolarz comes up huge
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice gave credit to his players for taking control of the bench and earning the win in Nashville
The Florida Panthers got back on track Monday night in Nashville, snapping a sudden and surprising winless skid by playing a familiar brand of hockey.
Led by an aggressive and controlling performance at even strength and the kind of strong special teams play the Cats have come to expect of themselves, Florida took down the Predators by a convincing 4-1 final score in front of 17,159 at Bridgestone Arena.
We’ve harped on the negatives enough over the past week, so lets dive into the positive takeaways from the much needed win.
A players’ win
Going four games without a victory is especially tough to swallow when the run comes immediately on the heels of a nine-game winning streak.
Florida was facing all kinds of adversity, including having to play without captain and top line center Sasha Barkov and top pairing defenseman Gus Forsling.
No matter.
Florida looked like the same squad that carved up the opposition for several weeks between December and January, grinding down Nashville and controlling the majority of the even strength shifts.
“You stand behind the bench some nights and you get a feel that your players are right,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said. “They kind of ran the bench tonight in some ways, in terms of what was said. This was a big game for us. The dads are here and we've also lost a few in a row. We needed a win, so really good energy on the bench, real good focus.”
Big game for Stolarz
Anthony Stolarz has been as solid as you could hope for in a backup goaltender for the Panthers this season.
He played well after coming in relief for Sergei Bobrovsky during Friday’s loss to Minnesota and was rewarded with the start on Monday night in Nashville.
Stolarz was lights out against the Predators, stopping all 10 of the high danger shots sent his way, finishing with 27 saves for his seventh victory of the year.
“He’s such a lovable guy, everybody pulls for the backup goaltender,” Maurice said Monday. “He doesn't get in as much but he’s playing really, really well for us. He's earned the right to be good. If you work as hard as he has in practice, and you compete, it's a tough job to come in as the backup, but he's earned the right to be good, and we appreciate that.”
Big bounce back effort by the PK
Florida scored four even strength goals on Friday against Minnesota and still came up on the short end of the stick.
That’s what will happen when you allow five power play goals to your opponent.
Coming off that horrendous performance, and without a couple of key members of the PK unit, the Panthers dug deep and came up with a perfect 5-for-5 night in Nashville.
“(Sasha) Barkov is a huge penalty killer, so is (Gus) Forsling, but the other guys can get it done,” Maurice said. “And in this case, you need your goaltender to be good, and he was. Confidence is everything. Power play and penalty kill are the same thing, if you're confident group, you're faster and you knock more pucks down and you're a better group. Our confidence took a hit last game but rebounded very, very well”
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