Florida has not looked like the same aggressive, physically intimidating team in recent weeks
Florida has not looked like the same aggressive, physically intimidating team in recent weeks
There wasn’t much for the Florida Panthers to write home about regarding Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators.
Despite coming off a four-day break and seemingly feeling fresh and rejuvenated, the Panthers played an uninspired, unfamiliar game, and paid the price for it, losing 3-0 to Nashville in their own barn.
Florida has now dropped three straight games, with two of the three seeing the normally potent Panthers coming up empty in the scoring department.
Let’s dive into the takeaways and see what we come up with.
Getting away from Panthers hockey
One of the main reasons that Florida has been considered such a feared playoff opponent isn’t so much about how much they’ve been winning this season, it’s the way they’ve been doing it.
When you have the puck, they’re in your face with their defense, giving you a little time and space to operate as possible.
When they have the puck, it’s all about speed, getting the puck into your zone and attacking.
Florida’s X-factor is its ability to transition. Whether it be off a turnover, a rebound or some other sudden change of possession, the Panthers are elite at changing direction and moving toward their opponents end of the ice as a cohesive five-man unit.
Recently, Florida has gotten away from what has set them apart.
“I have lots of faith that we can get there, but we're not close to our game now,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Right now, we're a rush team with no speed, which wouldn't relate at all to the team that you've seen in the past. But you're as good as your last game. I have lots of faith that we can find a way to get it out of them.”
Another poor start
Florida struggled to take control of the game during the first period, something that has been a constant over the past couple weeks.
It seems to come down the simple fact that the Panthers are getting away from their game. They are not all on the same page.
Perhaps its due to injuries, perhaps its new players in the lineup, perhaps it’s a bit of both.
“It’s tough to get your legs going when you're turning pucks over and you’re skating in the wrong direction,” Maurice said. “Listen, it's easy to be angry. I would just say that I do care about them, and I have lots of faith in them, but we're not going anywhere playing the game that we're playing right now so we've got to get that fixed real quick.”
Not blaming absences
Florida’s blueline has seen two of its top six defenders exit the lineup recently.
First it was Aaron Ekblad going down with a lower-body injury that’s kept him out of the lineup for the past couple weeks.
Then Dmitry Kulikov was suspended two games for an illegal check to the head of Tampa Bay’s Conor Sheary on Saturday.
Suddenly Josh Mahura, who’d only played a handful of games since mid-November, and Uvis Balinskis, now a mainstay playing big minutes for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, were thrust back into the Panthers lineup.
“Maybe that keeps you from getting to some parts of your game, but it doesn't matter who you've got playing defense if you're feeding… what’d we have, 22 turnovers tonight?” Maurice said. “It's not all our defense but our back end has got to get better, too. There's lots of games, lots of experience lots of good men in that locker room, we’ve just fallen off the path a little bit here. We’ll find it.”
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