Three takeaways: Tkachuk, Bobrovsky spark Panthers 4-0 win over Colorado
Florida made a big statement against a team they could end up facing in the Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers have won quite a few hockey games this season, and they’ve earned those victories in a handful of different ways.
Saturday night's triumph over the Colorado Avalanche was the kind of dominant, decisive win that Florida would like to replicate night in and night out, if they could.
It was a game that started with elite goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky and ended with Florida's top guns continuing to roll as the Panthers came out on top of the Cup contending Avalanche by a convincing 4-0 margin.
There were several positives that can be taken away from the win, but let’s focus on a select few.
Tkachuk keeps rolling
Since Jan. 1, no NHL player has more points than Matthew Tkachuk.
He entered Saturday’s game tied with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, each with 28 points.
Two assists later and Tkachuk is up to 12 goals and 30 points through the first 16 games of 2024.
After the win over the Avs, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice was asked what more he could say about his superstar winger and the run he’s been on.
‘I would say the way he offensively returned to form, because his defensive game in that first stretch was markedly better than it was last year at this time,” Maurice said. “Everybody had to learn a different style of play. He learned that in the first half, but he kept it. He was very, very good when those two defenseman (Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour) were out, and what I and the coaches especially appreciated is his numbers weren't great at the start, we needed him to defend a certain way because of the missing pieces on our blue line, and he never changed his game and never once cheated for it. He's a better player right now than he was last year at this time, for sure.”
Another big game by Bob
Saturday’s game could’ve gone a much different way had it not been for the heroics of Bobrovsky during the first period.
By the time the game was ten minutes old Bobrovsky had already made eight saves, five of which were of the high danger variety, according to Natural Stat Trick.
He continued to come up big as the game progressed, finishing with 35 saves on a night Colorado’s expected goals was 3.44.
Bob also finished with 10 high danger saves.
“They’re the highest scoring team in the National Hockey League, if they come out and have a good feeling the first five minutes because they score on that powerplay, you’ve got a completely different animal that you have to deal with,” Maurice said. “He was just right and solid, and there's no easy shots on that team. Even the ones from the outside that he had to work hard to see, and then if he saw it, he stopped it, but he was really, really good.”
Shutting down high-scoring Avs
While yes, Bobrovsky was stellar against Colorado, he did have some help.
As the game progressed, Florida began controlling more and more of the puck, taking away the speed of the Avalanche and limiting their time and space when they did get possession.
It’s more proof of a growing trend in which the Panthers have been able to, for lack of a better term, frustrate the hell out of their opponent while sitting back and waiting for them to make mistakes.
“I thought our last two games, the second or third period we did not come off the puck and we didn’t sit on it,” Maurice said. “We made smart decisions, and we didn't force some offense that might have got us to five (goals). We didn't force anything like that, but I didn't think we sat back or came off it, and I liked the intensity.”
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