George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Panthers wrapped up their most successful road campaign in franchise history Saturday as Anthony Duclair scored twice in a 5-4 win at Chicago.
Saturday’s game was the last one of the 2021 regular season for the Panthers and they fared pretty well away from Sunrise.
By going 17-9-2 in the 28 road games, Florida got 36 of the available 56 points for a point-percentage of .643.
That is, by far, the best rate in the franchise’s history.
The Panthers can only hope that road work continues in the postseason where wins away from home are paramount to success.
”I guess we just like to be on the road,” captain Sasha Barkov said. “Being a good road team in this league is tough. We have done a good job getting ready for games. … We just try to play the same game we play at home and it is paying off.”
Because the Panthers will only play a 56-game season, it is hard to compare this year to a normal 82-game season. Things happen in a longer season.
Still, this one has been quite impressive by a Panthers team headed to the playoffs.
Last year, Florida only played 34 road games due to the season coming to an early close; the Panthers had a .588 point percentage on the road.
In earlier shortened seasons due to labor strife (1995 and 2013) the Panthers were either a .500 team or worse.
In 2021, Florida ended things by winning its final three road games of the regular season.
The Panthers also beat the Blackhawks for the sixth time in eight tries.
”I think that shows the consistency we had all year,’’ Joel Quenneville said. “Home or away, we have played the same way game-in, game-out. Everyone has been contributing on a game-to-game basis.
“We have wins in every building this year. There may have been trips that looked like it was going south on us and we recovered and made something of it.”
BULLISH IN CHICAGO
Saturday night, the Panthers briefly found themselves in a dogfight with a Chicago team trying to desperately stay in a playoff chase it is probably already out of.
Florida had a 2-0 lead late in the second period, a lead that quickly disappeared when Connor Murphy (son of original Panthers d-man Gord) and Alex DeBrincat scored 42 apart before the second intermission.
Murphy’s goal came on a power play chance; DeBrincat scored on a defensive breakdown in front of the net where Adam Gaudette threaded a pass under Keith Yandle’s stick on onto the Chicago sniper’s tape.
Florida took the first lead at 7:54 of the first when Duclair jumped out of the penalty box, took a pass and worked the puck deep.
Duclair did a real nice job of circling the net, defending the puck along the boards and then charging the net and putting one past Kevin Lankinen to make it 1-0.
In the second, it was Nikita Gusev giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead as the former MVP of the KHL got his first with Florida by sliding a shot between Lankinen’s skates.
Then came the Blackhawks.
It appeared the Panthers were going to be tied going into the third, but then the red-hot Barkov got into the act by firing top shelf on old pal Lankinen off a nice pass from Gus Forsling.
Barkov’s goal came with just 6.8 seconds left in the period.
Speaking of Barkov: Whoa.
Barkov now has seven goals in his past seven games and 12 in his past 16.
Impressive just is not the right word for the way Barkov is playing right now.
Barkov is certainly having a special season, one which will have him in the running for some hardware in the offseason. We will talk about that later.
After Barkov’s goal took some of the starch out of the Blackhawks, Florida took the game over by scoring twice within the opening minute of the third.
”I don’t know if that did it but we had a really good start, scored goals on the first two shifts,” Barkov said. “We kind of put the game away. Obviously they are a good team, have some skill and battled back, gave a good run at the end. We can learn from that and get better.”
First, Duclair got his second by driving in and scoring on another slick goal in which he drove in, froze Lankinen and pushed the puck past him 28 seconds into the third.
Owen Tippett then got in on the act by whipping a shot off a Sam Bennett pass 21 seconds later to make it 5-2.
Sergei Bobrovsky finished the Blackhawks off by making 10 saves in the third and 31 overall in his return to net.
The only goal he gave us was a batted puck by Kirby Dach on a power play chance. Bobrovsky was then all over the place as he made three big saves to keep it a two-goal game as Chicago pulled Lankinen and came with six attackers.
Dominik Kubalik did get one through with 18 seconds left, however, to make the score look closer than it was.
SAM AND PAVEL
By the way, Bennett ended the night with two points.
Bennett now has 13 points in nine games with the Panthers — one more than he got in 38 games with Calgary before the trade deadline.
According to the Panthers, Bennett tied Pavel Bure (10-3-13) for the most points by a player in franchise history over their first nine games with the club.
You get mentioned in the same sentence with the Russian Rocket?
Hey, that ain’t bad.
GUS ‘ORRSLING’
Speaking of putting yourself in good company, Barkov revealed tonight that teammates have a new nickname for Gus Forsling: “Bobby Orrsling.”
“You don’t have to say anything more,” Barkov said. “He’s doing it all, playing unreal defense, carrying the puck into the zone. The kind of plays he can make are unbelievable.”
Quenneville said, don’t get too far ahead of yourselves.
”You can’t compare anyone to that guy, so I don’t know if that’s fair to Bobby,” Quenneville said. “But (Forsling) did have a good game … The boys are having a little fun.”
GEORGE’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT
1. Anthony Duclair, Florida
2. Sasha Barkov, Florida
3. Sam Bennett, Florida
ON DECK: STARS AT PANTHERS
When: Monday, 7
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise
Tickets: AVAILABLE HERE
Season series: Florida leads 5-2
TV: BS-FLA
Radio: WQAM 560-AM