Florida is looking to get back on track after a rough few games
The Florida Panthers are coming off a rough week during which they didn’t quite resemble the dominant squad that had been rolling over the NHL for the past couple months.
With that being the case, an extra few days between games was a welcomed break in the schedule.
Over their past three outings, Florida fell behind 3-0 in Dallas, 4-0 in Carolina and 4-0 to Tampa Bay.
That’s some very un-Panthers-like play.
The Dallas game saw Florida turn things around and actually win 4-3, and against Tampa the Panthers dominated the final 40 minutes but couldn’t overcome an incredible effort by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
All the components of Florida’s successful style of play are there, but the consistency has been lacking.
“I think being engaged early is important,” said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart. “We've kind of dug ourselves a hole the last couple, but our game is there. It works when we're executing it. There's some things to tighten up early, and this is an important couple of days for us to reenergize, to learn from it and come back strong.”
It’s important for the Panthers utilize these valuable days off as best as possible.
Florida’s schedule over the next few weeks gets pretty intense as the games pile up ahead of the playoffs.
They have also been managing several injuries, and you can bet that there are players dealing with things that we have no clue about.
“We've got four days of rest, which we need a little bit,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “It's not an excuse…we had 50 shots (against Tampa Bay), we weren’t too tired, but we need to get our mental edge back.”
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When the Panthers are going the way they have been for much of the season, are feeling constant waves of pressure.
That will be goal of the next few days, getting back into the right mindset to perform the way they’ve shown they can.
“It's fun to play when you're possessing the puck a little bit and guys are making some plays,” said Panthers defenseman Josh Mahura. “That just feeds off of…when we're doing the right things and playing the way we normally play, that just starts to happen on its own.”
One of the main components of Florida’s style of play is that the team must play in synergy, as a five-man unit.
The players read off one another on the ice, but they’re also so in sync emotionally.
When one guy gets fired up, he’s usually not the only one.
“It's easy to get going when one line is going, because we're all playing the same way when we're at our best,” Reinhart said. “We feed off one another.”
Those are only some of the reasons why there is no concern in that locker room that things are going to be just fine.
Monday morning Florida will take the ice at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale looking to start the process of getting back on track.
“We'll get two solid skates in, and we haven't had that (recently) and won’t again,” Maurice said of Monday and Tuesday. “(These are) probably the last two meaningful practices, in some ways, of the year, and then we’ve still got some work to do.”
The Cats will hit the ice at Victoria Park at 11 a.m.
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