3 Takeaways From The Panthers vs. Red Wings

A quick stop in Sunrise before the Panthers head back out on the road once again ended in one of their grittiest comebacks of the season. The Cats haven’t found their rhythm against divisional opponents yet this season as they’ve gone 0-4 in their first four games against other Atlantic teams. They finally got themselves into the win column as they erased a three-goal deficit to the Detroit Red Wings, avenging their loss from the week before. This match was a rollercoaster of emotions for fans as unlucky bounces off players, coupled with a dismal second period, had things looking rather bleak heading into the final period. But Florida found the energy and momentum to push back and earn the 5-4 win.

Not A Bad Start:

It’s happened so rarely this season, Florida scoring the opening goal, but they did just that against the Red Wings. Sam Reinhart netted his 11th goal of the season to give the Cats the lead before Detroit immediately answered with a goal from Compher. Sam’s backhanded goal developed from strong passing from Seth Jones and Carter Verhaeghe. Eller was at the net front providing pressure on Gibson and to pick up a rebound if it materialized, but Reinhart’s shot got through Gibson. After the Red Wings answered, the Cats played an alright rest of the period until a shot from Andreas Englund bounced off Seth Jones to give Detroit the 1-2 lead heading into first intermission. You don’t love that they allowed a response goal, but the period wasn’t completely disastrous. Ideally, you’d like to get out of that period tied instead of down one.

The Dark Times:

Things took a turn for the worse in the second period, where it was all Detroit. A shot from Lucas Raymond hit Jones in the chest and got directed past Akira Schmid to make it 1-3 just 17 seconds into the period. A fight between Sam Bennett and Alex DeBrincat got the crowd going, but the Red Wings held all the momentum for the majority of the period as Florida struggled to find its game. HC Paul Maurice said in his postgame that he wasn’t surprised that the team was playing behind the game during this stretch of matches. They just came off a tough three-game road trip, made a pit stop in Sunrise, and head back out on the road for another back-to-back against St. Louis and Dallas. He said that in a way, this is just an extension of the road trip. Kasper made it 1-4 just over midway through the period. But, for as poor as most of the period went, Gustav Forsling provided life in the dying seconds. Hard effort from the Panthers along the boards got the puck up to Forsling, who took a shot from just above the faceoff circle. Gus has a wicked shot, although it doesn’t always come out. He sniped a shot past Gibson, with some help from a Reinhart screen, to get the Cats within striking distance and a 2-4 deficit to overcome heading into the third period.

Flipped The Script:

HC Paul Maurice made one very important lineup change in the third period. He swapped Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett. Typically, Maurice doesn’t like to break up his center/winger pairings, but elevating Lundell to play with the Tkachuks made for magic on the ice. Anton scored just as an early third-period power play ended to bring Florida within one. Lundell was at the side of the net and picked up the rebound from Verhaeghe’s blocked shot. It shouldn’t be lost that Eller’s great work below the goal line opened things up for the rest of the play to develop. Lars then scored late in the third to tie the game with an assist from Niko Mikkola. Eller doesn’t score often, but when he does, it’s been game-changing goals for Florida. An incredible sequence just a minute later had Brady Tkachuk’s shot get saved and rebounded right back to himself. Brady then made a no-look cross-ice pass while he was falling to the ice to an open Lundell, who scored the game-winner and gave the Cats the 5-4 lead they’d take to the final buzzer. At some point, Matthew got a touch on the puck between Brady’s shot and the no-look pass, as he’s credited with a secondary assist on the play. He was in the net front traffic while the puck was bouncing around. HC Paul Maurice said his message to the team heading into the 3rd was that the first two periods don’t matter. That they had 20 minutes to tilt the game. Forsling, Verhaeghe, and Lundell all credited Gustav’s goal at the end of the second as a momentum shifter when they spoke with the media after the game. The Panthers have had a couple of comeback efforts that have fallen just short; it was good to see them get over the hump and finally win a divisional game.