Florida Panthers Long Road Trip Off to a Good Start

The Florida Panthers are usually at a disadvantage when they fly to the west coast.

Not only is there a three-hour time change, but that long flight is even more taxing when you know the home team has been there waiting.

Only with the Seattle Kraken playing in New York on Sunday afternoon, it was going through some of the same things the Panthers were when the two met Tuesday night.

Both teams got off to a little bit of a slow start, with the Panthers never holding a lead in the game.

Until, of course, it counted most.

The Panthers tied the game late in the second on a goal from Sasha Barkov, then won it 2-1 on a two-round shootout which featured a slick Barkov goal to get things rolling for the visiting team.

Get the Inside Sccop on the Florida Panthers

Every. Single. Day.

Subscribe to Florida Hockey Now Today!

Sam Reinhart, who fed Barkov on that regulation goal, waited out Joey Daccord before beating the Seattle goalie to give Florida the extra point.

The Panthers take a seven-game point streak (6-0-1) into Reinhart’s hometown of Vancouver on Thursday.

“We were a little slow early,” Reinhart said. “We weren’t too far out, and I thought halfway through, we were doing a pretty good job of speeding our game up, being a little more physical.”

For the second time in a week, the Panthers once held an opponent to just 15 shots through regulation — yet trailed 1-0 going into the second.

Not only was Daccord terrific, but so was the defensive play in front of him. 

Although coach Paul Maurice made note of the Panthers missing 29 shots (more than double what Seattle missed), a lot of that was due to the constant defensive pressure offered by the Kraken.

“We didn’t chase the game,” Maurice said. “They defended hard, they defended well, they blocked a lot of shots, and we missed the net a whole bunch. But they competed hard in that game and sometimes you have a tendency to want to change it, open things up. And we didn’t do that. I thought we were pretty solid defensively.

“They had some rush chances but I didn’t mind our positioning or our thought process. We just couldn’t keep a puck in when we were pressing. Solid road game for us. We’re going to be out for 12 days. You don’t want the first three days to be grumpy.”

Florida trailed 1-0 until Barkov one-timed a pass from Reinhart with 61 seconds left to play in the second period.

The Panthers could not pull ahead despite a dominant second half of the third period, Daccord making 10 saves in the period with Florida having 13 scoring chances.

It was your usual wide-open overtime, although one the Panthers controlled the puck for much of.

• Gary Bettman: Florida Panthers Close to Outdoor Game at Marlins Park

As was the case throughout the game.

Florida was the better team on Tuesday night and certainly did not look jetlagged.

At least Barkov did not, especially when he faked a between-the-legs offering in the shootout that froze Daccord right where he stood.

“It was going to be whomever stuck with the gameplan better, and I think we did,” Barkov said. “Obviously we had some breakdowns, but Bobby was there for us.”

ON DECK: GAME 30

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT VANCOUVER CANUCKS

• When: Thursday, 10 p.m.
• Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• This Season (Canucks Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Canucks 3, Panthers 2 OT (Oct. 17). At Vancouver: Thursday.
• Last Season: Canucks Won 2-0.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Vancouver leads 20-13-4, 6 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday at Calgary Flames, 10 p.m.