Colby Guy
The Florida Panthers did not have a lot of time to integrate the new guys into their lineup before they headed on the road for their three-game Canadian road trip.
Claude Giroux and Robert Hagg joined the team on Monday and had two days of practice each before the team departed for Montreal.
Ben Chiarot, who was dealing with visa issues, did not even have that.
He remained in Montreal and was waiting for the Panthers as he continued to work on his own at the Canadiens’ practice facility.
A road trip was a great way to get to know one another.
Chiarot, Giroux and Hagg each picked up points in the Panthers’ road trip-opening win over the Habs and then it was right on the train to Ottawa after a practice on Monday morning.
“The road is very bonding for teams and we did a couple of unique things on the train ride,’’ coach Andrew Brunette said.
“I think it gets guys closer together when you’re kind of sequestered and isolated.”
For the second game in a row, the Panthers had to fight for it on the road, coming back from a 3-0 deficit and grinding out a shootout win over the Senators.
“Playing these road games, in general, is bonding in the way that it’s hard to win on the road in the NHL,” Brunette said.
“We had two tough games here where we rallied together as a group and built chemistry. That’s how you build that strong bond.”
This trip was especially important in establishing chemistry between Florida’s star newcomer, Giroux, and captain Sasha Barkov on the top line.
So far, it has paid off handsomely.
“He’s a special player, and he especially was down the stretch and on the power play,” Brunette said.
“It’s fun to see him and Barkov have chemistry together. It took a little bit of time to get him in the flow, but I felt like a night like tonight is a good step in accelerating the process a little bit.”
After notching two assists in his Panthers debut on Thursday, Giroux added two more to help the Panthers to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators.
One of the two assists on the night was a big faceoff win which set up a Barkov goal with 2:16 remaining and basically forcing overtime.
“That’s what he brings to us,” Barkov said. “He knows how to play in all situations and faceoffs are a huge part of his game.
“He’s so good at them and you can trust him. You can talk to him about different plays because there’s a good chance he’s winning it.”
Just two games into his Panthers tenure, Giroux is fitting in just fine.
“He’s such a big leader for our team, he came in and we made him feel comfortable,” Jonathan Huberdeau said.
“The way he plays, the way he takes faceoffs, the way he plays hard, I’m not surprised he has four assists. I’m sure he’s going to get his first goal soon and he’s working hard and deserves everything he’s got.”
Florida found itself down 3-0 early in the second period Saturday despite dominating all facets of the game — save, of course, for the scoreboard.
Things changed in that regard later in the second.
Just over a minute later, Patric Hornqvist drove in and jammed the puck off the side of the net.
The puck got behind goalie Anton Forsberg and it appeared he trapped the puck up against the goal cage.
But after a lengthy video review, one camera angle showed the puck in the webbing of Forsberg’s glove which was fully over the line — and the Panthers had cut its deficit to a single goal.
The 3-2 score held until late in the third period, when Barkov fired off a shot from the blue line past Forsberg with 2:16 to go to tie the game up.
Barkov said he does not remember ever scoring from the blue line before — but with the Panthers pulling Sergei Bobrovsky and going with six attackers, he was basically back at point for a large power play attack.
“That was one to remember,” Barkov said.
The game ended up going to a shootout — with Barkov being the only player to score as Bobrovsky was terrific in the second half of the game.
UP NEXT FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
- When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
- TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM/SiriusXM
- Last season: Did not play
- All-time regular season series: Toronto leads 44-34-5, 7 ties
- This season: First meeting