George Richards, FHN Publisher
Upon signing with the Florida Panthers as a free agent in 2020, one promise Ryan Lomberg made was “what they see in me is what they’ll get every day. … I want to show them I am worth the opportunity and the contract. I’ll do anything I can do to help the team win.”
Lomberg kept his word.
Even though he did not play every game last year — or this one — the work he did on and off the ice never changed whether he was in or out of the lineup.
Lomberg’s infectious attitude never wavered regardless of if he was in the starting lineup or on the taxi squad working toward getting back into the game rotation.
The Panthers noticed.
They noticed all of it.
”Since he has been here, he was not always in the lineup, did not always have his name penciled in but he always brought his work ethic,” Andrew Brunette said.
“He was enthusiastic every single day, constantly working on his game and patiently awaited his chance. He got a great opportunity in the playoffs last year and took advantage of it.”
Lomberg was rewarded last week with another contract, a two-year extension which will keep him with the Panthers through 2024.
“It has been a long journey, that’s for sure,” Lomberg said. “I have come a long way, have put in a lot of hard work on and off the ice. Having said that, I’m not going to stop.
”I’m going to keep working. I’m excited and looking forward.”
Said Brunette: “I’m eccstatic.”
Lomberg has become a fan favorite just as general manager Bill Zito predicted when he first signed him.
“The fans,’’ Zito said, “are going to love him.”
With his all-out hustle and apparent lack of concern for his own well being, Lomberg is a human missile out on the ice.
Lomberg’s 32 hits this season ranks fifth on the team — even though he has only played in 12 of the 21 games and he is averaging less than 11 minutes on the ice.
Still, when Lomberg is on the ice, you know it.
His biggest moment in his two seasons with the Panthers came in the playoffs last spring when he won Game 3 against the Lightning in overtime.
That goal came not long after he mixed it up pretty good with the Lightning in the final two games of the regular season getting a lot of local love.
“The fans give me energy every night,” said Lomberg, who got the biggest cheers of the night Saturday when he flung Seattle’s Will Borgen to the ice and hopped up with a giant smile on his face.
“They bring energy to our team. To have them in my corner, it means everything.”
Brunette said one of his favorite characteristics of Lomberg is not only the way he works whether he is playing or not, but in that once he gets in, he is hard to take out of the lineup.
Take last season for instance.
In an April game against Columbus, he and Kole Sherwood squared off at center ice.
After Lomberg got the takedown, he pulled off his helmet to flip his long hair, a mischievous grin spread across his face. Which was on the center scoreboard sending the fans into a frenzy.
Prior to that, from March 13-April 19, Lomberg played in seven games and was scratched in 14.
When he returned for that game against the Blue Jackets, he had been scratched for three consecutive games.
Guess what? He did not miss another one.
This year, Lomberg had only played in four of Florida’s first 13 games.
Soon after getting back in, he went on a three-game point streak. He has played in the past eight games heading into Tuesday’s rematch with the Capitals.
“This year probably didn’t start the way he thought it was going to,’’ Brunette said. “When he got in there, we couldn’t take him out. I’m real happy for him. … He does the right things, is always in the right position. He can really skate. We always knew that but he really seems to be in a mojo mode right now.
“He’s feeling pretty good. He hounds the puck as good as anyone.”