Florida Panthers Win a Strange One, Keep Moving Forward

SUNRISE — One of the cool things about following the NHL is that you never know what to expect, including what happened in the Florida Panthers’ dominating 5-1 win against the Blackhawks on Saturday.

Florida’s win on national TV may have been the dominating narrative, but the day was chock full of stories within the story.

Many of which were the feel-good variety.

The Panthers, certainly, didn’t feel good when Chicago’s Landon Slaggart — playing in only his third game of the year after being called up from the AHL Rockford IceHogs — picked up a loose puck at the opening faceoff and skated in alone on Sergei Bobrovsky.

Slaggart deposited the puck behind Bobrovsky just seven seconds into the game for a Chicago franchise record for the fastest goal to start a game.

The goal beat Brent Sutter’s previous record by one whole second, set just shy of 30 years ago.

It was the fastest goal allowed to start a game in Florida history, three seconds quicker than Mike Knuble’s score for Boston against Jani Hurme — remember him? No? — in 2003. 

Slaggart had no idea he set a record until after the game.

“Not until I just heard it,” he said postgame.

After that, Bobrovsky was aces for the next 59:53. 

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“The guys work hard and play tight defensively and give us a good opportunity offensively as well,” said Bobrovsky, who has allowed a single goal in his past two starts after shutting out the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 on Wednesday.

“It’s fun to be there, fun to play with this team.”

Not to be outdone in the feel-good department, Jonah Gadjovich, who hadn’t played in the previous 18 games due to an upper-body issue, chopped in a loose puck out of a goalmouth scramble at 5:28 of the first period.

It was his first shift of the game.  

He had been on ice for all of 14 seconds.

Of course, Gadjovich had already been working.

Not thinking he would play Saturday, he had been skated into the ground in a pregame workout.

When the Panthers found out Mackie Samoskevich could not go because of illness hours before the puck dropped, Gadjovich went in.

His teammates were delighted that Gadjovich got rewarded for all of his hard work.

“You love to skate by and see all the smiles,” Gadjovich said. “I think that’s just the group that we have here. It’s just a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles. We have a good time when we come to the rink.”

That’s what a winning team can do for you.

Not to be outdone in the speed department, at the 10 second mark of the third period, Evan Rodrigues scored, converting on a neat pass by Anton Lundell from behind the net.

No record here.  

The fastest goal from the start of a period by a Florida player came from Derick Brassard in the third period against Washington’s Braden Holtby on February 9, 2019.

It was the only goal of Brassard’s brief 10-game career with the Panthers.

Paul Maurice, however, had his own milestone.

Maurice turned 58 on Thursday, a day after he coached in his 1,900th NHL game.

Saturday, Maurice got his 900th win, putting him in fourth place behind Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, and Barry Trotz.

“That’s a lot of wins,” Bobrovsky said. “900 wins is a crazy amount. He has been around and has big experience. We are very lucky to have him.”

Said Carter Verhaeghe: “He leads the group so well. He always knows what we need at certain times and when to push us, when to push certain guys. The results kind of speak for themselves. He’s a seasoned veteran. He got us to two Stanley Cup finals and won one in two years. He’s such a great coach and I’m really happy for him to get the milestone.”

Maurice said he is not thinking of numbers or records. 

“I would like to win the next one,” said Maurice, whose team plays the Islanders in Sunrise today at 6.

“That would be good. I’m sure there will come a time when you sit back and … By that time, you’re so damn old you can’t even remember.”

What surprises and oddities will Sunday bring against the red-hot Islanders?

Let’s find out.

ON DECK: GAME No. 54

NEW YORK ISLANDERS at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Sunday, 6 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• 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
• Last Season: Islanders Won 2-1
• This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Islanders: Panthers 6, Islanders 3 (Oct. 26); March 16. At Florida: Sunday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Panthers lead 58-34-11, 8 ties
• Next Up for the Panthers: Tuesday at Washington Capitals, 7 p.m.