5 Florida Panthers players who must bring their A-Game down the stretch
The Florida Panthers are so close to becoming the undisputed top team in the Eastern Conference, and five players must take charge to make that happen.
So much for not knowing whether the Florida Panthers were legitimate Stanley Cup contenders last season and so much for being unsure of whether they would threaten to repeat this year. The Panthers are tied for third in the NHL in points with 70 as of February 11th, and they have been a model of consistency throughout October and toward the halfway point of February.
Despite their impeccable play, they got ground to make up thanks to their division rival, the Boston Bruins, continuing their regular season dominance. While the Panthers showed us last season that they can beat Boston when it matters the most, they still wouldn’t mind snagging the top overall seed in the East this season. If a few prominent players up their respective games down the stretch, that could very well happen.
Sam Reinhart must take his dream season even further
Sam Reinhart was always a player you thought was good, possibly even in the top-tier in some seasons, but never great. He only superseded the point-per-game mark once when he scored 82 in 78 contests during his first season with the Panthers in 2021-22, but reverted into solid, but unspectacular status with 67 last season.
This year, Reinhart remains a legitimate candidate for the Hart Trophy, as he’s logging 1.23 points per game, or 64 in 52 contests. Reinhart has been especially dominant on the power play, where 22 of his 39 goals have come, and his shooting percentage is a ridiculous 27.9.
Reinhart has gotten past votes for the Selke, showing he’s one of the better defensive forwards in hockey, and that two-way style hasn’t deviated. This has made him one of the NHL’s most complete players to this point, and if he builds on what he’s done to even greater heights, the Panthers have a great chance to wreak havoc in the Eastern Conference down the stretch.
Sergei Bobrovsky must keep up his rebound season
In the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sergei Bobrovsky got it together and helped lead the Panthers on an unprecedented run to secure the Prince of Wales Trophy. Although they came up short to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, Florida still defied the odds, and it set the stage for a potential rebound for Bobrovsky.
Despite his turnaround in the playoffs, Bobrovsky struggled with a 0.901 save percentage, a 3.07 GAA, and a pedestrian 24-20-3 record during the regular season. At 34, it was safe to wonder whether Bobrovsky was slowing down until indicated otherwise in the postseason, and fortunately, the trend has continued well into 2023-24.
Through 38 games, Bobrovsky has snagged 25 wins, a solid 0.913 save percentage, and a stellar 2.43 GAA. The latter number is rather enticing, as Bobrovsky hasn’t put up such a solid GAA since he was a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Like Reinhart, we’re seeing Bobrovsky accomplishing some amazing things this year, and if he keeps up this incredible pace, expect the Panthers to get even better in the final two months of the regular season. Bobrovsky has been fun to watch once again, and though it’s been several years since he won the Vezina, the 35-year-old may find himself back in the conversation as the NHL’s best goaltender.
Time for Oliver Ekman-Larsson to go on a roll
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is leading all Panthers defensemen with 25 points and nine goals, and the two-way blueliner is on pace to have his most productive season from a points perspective since he scored 44 back in 2018-19 with the Arizona Coyotes.
However, he’s well off of his career-high of 55, which the 32-year-old hit in 2015-16. But Ekman-Larsson doesn’t need to score another 30 points in the Panthers final 30 contests to catapult this team over the next two months, even if it would provide a sensational help.
But if he gives Florida just 0.75 points per contest and if they continue to remain in the top-five (currently second) in goals allowed, that little bit of impact, considering he’s currently at 0.47 points per game, will make everyone’s job easier.
While you want to see him invading scoring lanes and providing some help when the Panthers don’t have the puck, his strength this season has been when his team is in the offensive zone. His Corsi For at 5-on-5 sits at a career-best 55.9, and his Fenwick For is also up there at 53.6.
Tack on the fact Florida’s offensive zone starting percentage is 58.1 when Ekman-Larsson is on the ice, the recipe for success is there. If he takes as many shots at the net as he had done during his more productive seasons in the past, Ekman-Larsson will make a huge impact for Florida over these next eight weeks.
Matthew Tkachuk’s physicality AND productivity must rival what we saw in Calgary
While Sam Reinhart has stolen headlines this season, very few think of him over Matthew Tkachuk when they hear the phrase Florida Panthers. And it’s little wonder as to why that is, since Tkachuk was a prime reason the Panthers made it as far as they did last year when he took home Second-Team All-Star honors and finished in third for the Hart Trophy.
His 109-point season was a career-best, and that followed a 104-point outing he had during his final year with the Calgary Flames. However, his final season in Calgary also saw him score a career-best 42 goals, or just over half a goal per game.
Tkachuk hit an identical rate last season when he scored 40 in 79 contests and he also remained one of the game’s most complete forwards, evidenced with his 17th-place finish for the Selke. In 2023-24, we have seen Tkachuk’s overall defensive game rival what we saw during his final season in Calgary, when he recorded 93 hits and 41 takeaways. Through 52 contests, those numbers sit at 72 and 27, respectively, and they will keep increasing.
The defense is there, but if Tkachuk can find a way to increase his goal-scoring output closer to what we saw during that final season in Calgary or even what we saw last year, Florida will be in business. Sure, Sam Reinhart is a huge reason why that’s not the case, but once again, such productivity from Tkachuk will help nudge the Panthers past their division rival to snag first place in the Atlantic.
Brandon Montour’s two-way production must arrive down the stretch
While we don’t often think of Brandon Montour as a blueliner who will put up a ton of points, we can’t ignore that outburst he enjoyed last season. In 2022-23, the then-28-year-old Montour had a breakout season, scoring 73 points and 16 goals while simultaneously snagging 90-plus blocks and hits for the first time since 2018-19.
Montour also hit a career-high in average total ice time at 24:08, and he also finished 12th in the Norris Trophy voting. But this season, we haven’t seen Montour hit those numbers, even if he’s still logging 23:13 of average total ice time with an outstanding 58.6 Corsi For and 55.6 Fenwick For to go with an offensive zone starting percentage of 55.9 at 5-on-5.
The above numbers show us that the Panthers are still a highly effective team when Montour is on the ice. Further, his 1.9 defensive point shares are tied for sixth on the team, so his defensive play is more than helping the Panthers. But like Matthew Tkachuk and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, if Montour’s two-way production returns, Florida will more than benefit.
Now, it’s all about taking a few more chances in games, especially when he has an open shot. So far this year, Montour’s 93 shots on goal are good for just 2.58 per game, down from 3.02 per game last season. While he’s only played in just 36 contests as of February 10th, he needs to get that number back up, and he could once again get closer to the 0.912 points per game he had last year, at least in the final eight weeks of the year.
feed
(Statistics provided by Hockey Reference as of February 11th)