Colby Guy
Whether their record shows it or not, the Florida Panthers have had a severe depth-scoring problem.
Of Florida’s 85 goals scored this season, 46 have come from four players who have rotated in and out of the Panthers’ first line.
Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart, the two constants on that line, have 27.
The other 39? 14 are from defensemen, nine were from the fourth line and the other 16 are divided up between the middle two forward lines.
Matthew Tkachuk, a 40-goal scorer in his past two seasons, is part of it.
He has contributed five of the 16 goals from the middle six, with one of them being an empty netter.
While the league’s fifth-best defense at 2.57 goals-against per game has the Panthers sitting pretty at 17-9-2 and in second in the Atlantic Divison, they will need more production from their middle two lines to keep things afloat long term.
As good as Barkov and Reinhart have been on both sides of the ice, one cold streak could freeze up Florida’s entire offense.
So, what has gone wrong for this middle six, which features a slew of talent?
Tkachuk’s struggles immediately come to mind.
After scoring 109 points in his MVP-caliber debut season in Sunrise, Tkachuk’s 20 points in 28 games has him on pace for just 58 points.
It is not for a lack of trying, however.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Tkachuk has the 15th-most individual scoring chances (105), the fourth-most individual high-danger chances (64), and the 12th-most individual expected goals for (12.67) in the league.
The problem? He has a career-low 4.8 percent shooting percentage.
His fractured sternum from the Stanley Cup Final does not affect his struggles.
Tkachuk has been as physical as he ever has been, throwing the fifth-most hits on the team (30) while playing the best defensive game of his career.
While he hasn’t let it slip on the outside, it could very well be a confidence issue, and once he gets his break, his unsustainably low shooting percentage will rocket back up.
The pieces around him have been an even bigger issue.
Sam Bennett has been inconsistent offensively aside from the team’s trip to Canada in November, scoring three goals and six points in 16 games since returning from a lower-body injury.
Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen have both had their spurts of success but have yet to find the missing piece to complete their line.
For a while, Nick Cousins played on their right wing and he has just two goals and five points in 28 games this season.
Paul Maurice finally moved away from using Cousins on that line in Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken, opting to put Tkachuk on that line instead.
The 2:54 sample size from the third period of the sluggish loss provides a limited amount of takeaways from the line’s chemistry but experimenting with it is a step in the right direction.
It remains to be seen if they stick with that combination or return Evan Rodrigues to that line, who provided some stability in a similarly small 4:15 sample size on Tuesday.
The point is, the Panthers need some new life in that middle six.
Perhaps it could mean another shot higher up in the lineup for Ryan Lomberg, who has had his fair share of success in small spurts while playing in a more prominent role.
His combination of speed and heavy forechecking could breathe some energy into it.
At some point, it could mean the call-up of Justin Sourdif or Mackie Samoskecvich for some more offensive flavor.
But that would require some roster gymnastics with the Panthers at the roster limit of 23 players.
The point is that something needs to change and quickly.