Florida Panthers: Defensive Struggles Causing Chaos

If you subscribe to the term ‘defense wins championships’ then the Florida Panthers should be very worried.

During the offseason, many believed this could be the Florida Panthers’ year to break into the playoffs and realize their potential.

However, since the start of the season, the team looks bent on proving everyone wrong and missing the postseason once again.

Although Roberto Luongo’s injury has done the team no favors, I believe that this is only one of the many issues contributing to the Panthers constant defensive struggles.

Scary Goaltending

Warning: The next sentence contains graphic information. Nausea and vomiting may occur.

During Luongo’s absence, goalies James Reimer and Mike Hutchinson save percentages have been .877% and .839% respectively.

*Place opening of sickness bag around the mouth to avoid spillage.*

Through his first six games, Reimer’s struggles have been particularly alarming. With Luongo being 39-years-old, many looked to him as a 1B goaltender and the Panthers were banking on a strong showing from him if an injury occurred to Lu.

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Since arriving in South Florida back in 2016-17, he has played in over 40 games per season and as Luongo ages, we should expect an increase in time for Reimer if we want to extend Luongo’s career.

With the workload continuing to climb, allowing almost three and a half goals per game is unsustainable for a team looking to make a playoff push.

In recent news, Reimer’s performance against the New York Islanders was solid. He saved 20 of 22 shots in a come from behind win.

In time, I would expect his numbers to return to their average of around .915%. The question is, will he return to normal before it’s too late? Time will tell.

To put Hutchinson’s horrific start into perspective, he averaged a save percentage of .910% over the course of his five years with the Winnipeg Jets.

Although his numbers with the Jets were nothing to brag about, they are good enough to keep a team above water during an injury crisis.

However, the Panthers are living this nightmare and Hutchinson is an ankle weight on a drowning team.

Horrendous Defending

In defense of the goalies, the Panthers defensive pairings have hung them out to dry. During this stretch of poor performances, the Panthers have allowed an average of 3.89 (basically 4) goals per game, a total of 35 goals in nine games.

After shuffling the lines several times, coach Boughner has struggled to find a consistent grouping of defensemen to be effective of a nightly basis. Arguably, the most consistent Panthers defensemen have been Alexander Petrovic and Bogdan Kiselevich.

Let me say this again… ALEXANDER PETROVIC has been a standout for the Panthers this season thus far.

Due to consistent turnovers and poor positioning, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, and Mike Matheson have all been called into question. One of my personal favorite examples of the team’s turnover troubles is this beautiful assist from Ekblad to Philadelphia Flyer Claude Giroux.

I wish I could say this was an isolated incident and that the Panthers have been unlucky on the goals that have been scored against them. However, this isn’t the case.

Shot charts show the Panthers allow a significant amount of goals from directly in front of their own net:

Clearly, Panthers goalies often find themselves toe-to-toe with opposing offenses. This can only mean two things: either the Panthers defense is soft in the middle and pucks are allowed to move freely through the most dangerous area of the ice, or, the Cats give the puck away all the time and teams have consistent breakaway opportunities.

Both scenarios are awful.