George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — No one has to tell Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice that his team is struggling to putting the puck in the back of the net.
On their most recent road trip, the Panthers scored five goals in each of their two wins against Columbus and Edmonton — only to get shut out in Seattle and Vancouver while scoring once against Calgary.
Maurice and his team is working on it.
Daily.
“The last week that we had (shut out) in two of three is not where we want to be,” he said, “except you usually learn something from your losses.
“We had some themes in three of the games of what we’re trying to get to with our offensive game.
“Not just score more goals, but have it look consistently the same way and also utilize the kind of players we have and the skill we do have. We think we’re on to something. I’ll let you in two or three weeks if we’re right — or you will.”
When you look at the numbers, the Panthers are one of the top teams in the league in creating chances:
- Third in shots-on-goal per game (33.9);
- Second in shot attempts per game (56.2);
- Third in expected-goals overall (51.6).
But actually scoring the goals?
Coming into Wednesday, Florida was:
- 21st in the NHL in goals scored (91) — nine of which were empty-net goals (tied-2nd);
- 30th in on-goal shooting percentage (7.08) which is just above Anaheim and San Jose;
- 31st in all-shot attempt percentage (3.42) which ranks just above the Sharks.
To compare individual shooting percentages, Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers with 18 goals on 74 shots for a whopping 24.3 percent success rate.
That ranks seventh among skaters with at least 15 games played in the NHL.
Next on the Panthers with similar shots-on-goal is Carter Verhaeghe (15 on 108, 13.9 percent) and Sasha Barkov (11 on 88, 12.5 percent).
Anton Lundell, meanwhile, has two goals on 55 shots for a success rate of 3.6 percent; Matthew Tkachuk has five goals on 112 shots (4.5 percent).
As a team, the Panthers only have six players with a shooting percentage over 10.
The Vancouver Canucks, who lead the league at 11.8 percent, have 11 players over 10.
Maurice said the team is working through some things and expects the Panthers to come out of it better than where they started.
It is a work in progress, however.
“There’s nothing permanent in the NHL so you have to constantly reinforce,’’ Maurice said. “But, we want a style of offensive game that is also relatable to the playoffs. We’re working on that now; a lot of zone time.
“We were one-and-done a lot, I felt in the first 30 games, especially going into those two we got shutout in. We waited for a lot of ‘A-chances’ and passed up a lot of ‘B and C chances.’
“We’re trying to get away from that offense. We may shoot a bit less at times. If we do the right things, we will actually be shooting more but at the starting point, you may see the puck going in less. Shot blocks is a big tell for us. We had a lot in Calgary. We’re trying to change our offensive game a little bit and it may take us some time, but we should still be able to win games.”
Now, the Canucks are not likely to continue scoring at the clip they have to start this season, and, on the flip side, Florida’s numbers will probably improve as the games roll on.
The good side of the numbers is how well the Panthers have played on the defensive side of the ice.
Although Florida is ranked 22nd in goals-for at 2.94, they are fourth in goals-against per game at 2.58.
Florida is near or in the top-10 when it comes to:
- Shots-on-goal against (3rd, 639);
- Unblocked shot attempts against (5th, 926);
- Goals-Against Above-Expectation (9th, -6.39);
- Expected goal differential (3rd, 11.22);
- Actual goal differential (11th, plus-7).
After the first half of last season in which they struggled with their new defensive system, the Panthers are OK with where they are right now.
The goals will start finding their way. Florida is creating too much for them not to.
“Our defensive numbers are top three or four in the league on all of those (shooting percentage) metrics,” Maurice said.
“Early on, you thought (the struggles) were missing Bennett and missing two offensive-defensemen. Some of it is, we spent a year and a half implementing our defensive game and I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
Statistics provided courtesy NHL.com and MoneyPuck.com
ON DECK
ST. LOUIS BLUES @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
- This Season — At Florida: Thursday. At St. Louis: Jan. 9.
- Last Season: Blues won 2-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: St. Louis leads 26-12-1, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Vegas, 3 p.m.