Florida Panthers: A Hat Trick in Sunrise; Barkov’s Personal Skills Competition

Aleksander Barkov was right out front for the Florida Panthers on Sunday night, scoring three goals and notching an assist for good measure.

16,212 were in the house to witness Barkov’s solid game. The hat trick was the second of Barkov’s career to date, and the second of this season after his three-goal night in a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 15th.

Quick tangent here – Toronto Maple Leafs? Isn’t that a grammatical error? That’s like saying “loafs of bread,” or “buy me some knifes.”

Can our neighbors north of the border be counted on even for simple things? If I ever have a Canadian workout partner, I guess on leg day I will “half” to work on “calfs.” Apparently, only at my own risk, but I digress.

Barkov was electric for the Florida Panthers, especially for his third goal of the night on a breakaway chance against the Montreal Canadiens.

Goaltender Carey Price. Barkov beat the British Columbia native stick-side by going between his own legs.

Price got a piece of the biscuit with the knob of his stick, but not enough to make a difference. Here’s the play on Sportsnet.

So what do we have in Barkov? Is he truly a generational talent or merely the best guy on an average team? Evidence suggests the latter.

Even though he’s big and strong, and obviously talented, his 57 points in 57 games this season is the first time in his career that he’s notched a point per game average – and the season isn’t even done yet.

On the other hand, if the Florida Panthers lead another “Miracle Charge” for the Stanley Cup playoffs, as they did last season (falling inches short, incidentally), Barkov will be the man to lead it.

As the team captain, he needs to continue to produce in the unbelievable way he did last night on a much more consistent basis.

He needs to get in a meeting, along with Jonathan Huberdeau, Mike Hoffman, Evgeni Dadonov, Vincent Trocheck, and Frank Vatrano and lay down the plan to get this done.

And the answer to this is “one game at a time.” It seems elementary, but Nike had it right when they said, “Just Do It.”

Here’s the full condensed game as put out by NHL.com:

Also making multiple dents in the scoresheet were Mike Hoffman and Keith Yandle with two helpers apiece. Denis Malgin, Riley Sheahan, and Vatrano each lit the lamp. In addition, notching assists were Henrik Borgstrom, Derek Brassard, Dadonov, and Huberdeau.

The ten players on the scoresheet didn’t do it alone. Panthers number 1B goaltender James Reimer turned aside 28-of-31 shots on net, including a torrid 17 in the first period, leading the Cats to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

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