Three takeaways: Cats stringing wins together, goals coming for Verhaeghe
Florida picked up wins in each of the three games on their homestand this week
The Florida Panthers are heading back on the road with a few more wins in the bank.
Sunday’s 6-3 win over the New York Islanders capped off a perfect three-game homestand for Florida, which included victories over the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks.
Heading into a quick but challenging couple of road games this week, the Panthers have got to be pleased with their overall performance lately.
After an extremely tough segment of the schedule, it feels like the Cats are getting back on a familiar track.
Let’s get to Sunday’s takeaways.
GOOD FIGHT FROM ISLES
Florida wasn’t the only team playing on the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday.
The Islanders beat Tampa Bay in overtime on Saturday night to extend their winning streak to seven games, but saw a pair of key players, Matthew Barzal and Scott Mayfield, exit with injury.
Between all that and Florida jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead, it was feeling like a night where the Islanders would be forgiven for not being at their best.
Well to their credit, Patrick Roy’s squad put up a hell of a fight during the second period.
“We had a pretty good jump on them, they played last night,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “I mean, it's back-to-back for us, but we've got an advantage. They got banged up in the game last night, lost two huge pieces to their lineup, but don't quit. They got to our net, I’d said before the game, it'll be a net front game, and they're so good at it, they're elite at it. We had a pretty good response after that. I didn't mind our third at all.”
VERHAEGHE HEATING UP
Don’t look now, but pucks are finally starting to go in for Carter Verhaeghe.
The man they call Swaggy has scored in consecutive games for just the second time this season, racking up four goals over the weekend after netting a hat trick against the Isles.
If Verhaeghe can start converting his shots at a rate similar to his usual shooting percentage, which is around 14-15%, the goal total will quickly rise.
He’s starting to look more like his usual self, getting the puck off his stick and to the net very quickly, so that may be what we’re seeing happen now.
“It’s really good for a shooter like that, because confidence is everything and sometimes you just, I don't even know if you're off, it's just not going for you,” said Maurice. “We felt his game was trending in the right (direction, it) started when he played with Anton (Lundell) for a while, almost a month. We liked the game. His numbers weren't what he's used to, and then he's got it cooking now.”
HOMESTAND SWEEPAGE
It’s not easy to return from a road trip and hit the ground running, but that’s what the Panthers were able to do this week.
A three-game homestand that included another back-to-back set didn’t trip up the Cats as they now have opened up a modest three point lead over Toronto in the Atlantic Division.
While the Panthers are just starting to see some consistent results in terms of wins and losses, the coaching staff has felt that it was just a matter of time before things starting swinging back in Florida’s favor again.
“I liked our game,” Maurice said. “I don't like our second period here today, but in the block of it, I liked our game, and I've liked it almost for a month. We wanted to get in tight games. We've been in a bunch of them now. I think we're handling third periods very well. Now we got a hard push to the break.”
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