No longer the underdog, Florida is learning how to succeed while playing the role of favorite

There were patches of good and patches of not quite as good, but as the story has gone for much of this season, the Florida Panthers still found a way to win.

Tuesday night Florida ran into a young and scrappy Buffalo Sabres squad doing everything they can to keep their playoff hopes from passing the point of no return.

Buffalo put up a hell of a fight, too, especially during the third period, drawing within one of Florida but ultimately falling 3-2 to the Panthers.

As the season gets deeper and the Panthers remain near the top of the league, we’re seeing what appear to be different chapters of the same story.

To the takeaways we go.

Start strong, finish strong

Getting off to strong starts is an area that Florida has seen some nights end with better results than others.

The Panthers have been able to survive most of those games thanks to the incredible amount of talent on the roster, but ideally, Florida wants to impose their will from the opening puck drop to the final horn.

Granted, Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice is well aware that playing his style of hockey at that high of a level is extremely difficult.

But starting games off on the right skate is one of the easiest ways for the Panthers to avoid getting behind the proverbial eight ball.

"The first period we played a smart period," Maurice said Tuesday. "I didn't think that maybe in two of the three previous games that we had played very smart, I thought we'd done unusual things. There wasn't a lot of juice to the first period, and then we got 'er going for about 10 minutes there in the second period and we looked right on it. Then it quieted down there, but I liked our third period because they had some time in our end of the ice, but I thought we were in pretty good shape with those. I didn't think it felt wobbly or dangerous at any point in time. They're good team that's got lots of skill, and they hang out on to pucks and they make plays constantly, so they're always dangerous with that. But I liked that in the last three minutes we we're still aggressive with on the puck and I'm pretty happy with that."

A different urgency

One of the reasons those strong starts seem more difficult to come by is that Florida is gone from hunter to hunted.

It’s a completely different mindset that must be learned as part of the process of going from a mediocre team to one that is now a perennial Cup contender.

When the puck drops on any given night, Florida can expect to get their opponents’ best shot.

That will happen when the majority of the teams your facing are getting amped up to face one of the league's best teams while simultaneously scratching and clawing for every single point in the standings they can muster.

"Things were way easier last year,” Maurice said. “Truly, to come in and prepare, mentally prepare for a game, when you have to win or you're as close to having to win every night, everybody comes wired. This is far more mentally challenging, because we've got, what, 82 points now? You're not making the playoffs with 82 points, so there's still work to be done. But we've got confidence in how hard we work, so we feel we're in pretty good shape there. The players in there play a passionate game, and that's hard to manufacture when there's not that urgency. I didn't think that against Ottawa, and the other night (against Washington) I didn't think that we were particularly smart in how we approached the game, but I thought we were tonight.”

MVP quality from Tkachuk

The point production from Matthew Tkachuk continues to come in waves.

He’s been positively impacting the game at even strength for months, but now that his scoring touch has returned, it’s taken his game basically back to where it was during Florida’s run to last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

He’s also been a big part of what’s become one of the NHL’s most lethal power plays.

It's playoff Tkachuk...he beats you on the scoreboard, and he also just beats you. 

Tuesday he logged a goal and an assist, both on the man advantage, bringing his total since Jan. 1 to 16 goals and 40 points in 22 games.

"He adds another layer, really,” Maurice said of Tkachuk’s resurgence. “So the Barkov line doesn't have to be the key piece every night, which is really important. The path that Matthew took to points this year was really important because he didn't cheat the game early on, when he wasn't scoring. There was no selfishness, he was fine with it. He actually truly was. When he talked to us, (he'd say) 'I know what I'm doing defensively, I'm playing the right way, it's just like going for me, and they'll come,' and it did. His timing was off. I don't consider him a streaky player at all. He's pretty consistent every night whether the puck goes in or not, and now it's going in for him."

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