Florida jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Monday against the Devils

It was a happy flight home for the Florida Panthers after coming away with their first win of the season on Monday night in New Jersey.

Florida faced a challenging three-game road trip to open their 2023-24 campaign, all against teams that made the playoffs last year.

They finally came away with two points against the Devils after dropping a tightly contested opener in Minnesota and a less disciplined second game on Saturday in Winnipeg.

Here are three takeaways from Florida’s 4-3 win in New Jersey:

Is there chemistry growing between Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues?

The Panthers have scored eight goals this season.

Reinhart and Rodrigues, despite only playing together for a total of 33:22 this season, have both been on the ice for five of those eight goals.

After Monday’s win, Paul Maurice was asked about Reinhart’s hands around the net, as all three of his goals have come off deflections.

Maurice was quick to point out that two of Reinhart’s goals have come to him off the stick of Evan Rodrigues.

“Interesting that Rodrigues has found him twice now,” Maurice said. “They’re going to start looking for those tips and start moving off each other. That truly is chemistry, and it takes a little while to build.”

Sergei Bobrovsky played an excellent game

The Panthers may have jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the game should really have been much closer.

Bobrovsky made several elite saves and was locked in well before third period blitz by Jersey. If he continues to play like that, Florida will win a lot more of his starts than they won’t.

Bob stopped 33 shots on Monday, including 13 of the Devils 15 high-danger shots.

“When he’s on like that…that’s why he’s The Bob,” Maurice said after the game.

Eetu Luostarinen’s faceoff numbers are something to take note of

The only reason Luostarinen is playing center is because Sam Bennett had to miss time with a lower-body injury.

Florida may have to find more time for him in the faceoff circle.

Luostarinen has a career 43% success rate when it comes to taking faceoffs, but the guy but has won 56.5% of his draws this so far this season (24 of 46), including 14 of 23 on Monday night.

Even if he gets moved back to the wing when Bennett is healthy, Florida is a team that will utilize more than their traditional centers when it comes to taking draws.

It will certainly be something to keep an eye on as the year progresses.  

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