George Richards, FHN Publisher
When the Florida Panthers’ season came to its premature end, star players Sasha Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau were not exactly lighting up the scoresheet.
Although Huberdeau ended up leading the Panthers in scoring for their abbreviated 69-game season and Barkov finished second, it was not due to their final couple of weeks.
If the Florida Panthers are going to do anything in this NHL playoff tournament when it opens Saturday against the New York Islanders, Sasha Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau need to go back to scoring the way they have in the past — just not their most recent past.
Barkov’s numbers in the Florida Panthers’ final eight games: Two assists.
Huberdeau: One goal, one assist.
Florida’s record in those games: 3-3-2.
“Well, we need everyone but we need these guys to be top players,” coach Joel Quenneville said of his two offensive stars who combined for just 22 points in the final 20 games of the season.
“We’re expecting these guys, whether they are productive or not, to influence the game be it with the puck possession-wise or in the offensive zone having the puck, making the power play effective. More consistency, shift-to-shift, from our top guys will make us a more balanced team.”
When the Panthers were last playing their best hockey — they left Chicago on Jan. 21 riding a six-game winning streak with a four-point lead in the playoff race — Barkov and Huberdeau were doing a lot of the heavy offensive lifting.
Huberdeau spent part of his down time during the 10-day break in St. Louis for his first All-Star appearance.
At the time, Huberdeau had 18 goals and 65 points in 49 games — on pace to score 109 and obliterate last year’s career-high 92.
Barkov scored three goals with nine points in Florida’s six-game run before their infamous 10-day break, one in which the Panthers were so slow to shake off, it could have derailed the entire season.
In their first game out of the break, Florida was steamrolled by Montreal 4-0.
The Panthers bounced back two days later fueled by Mark Pysyk’s hat trick to comeback and beat the host Maple Leafs before losing 1-0 in overtime to Columbus.
Not a great start at 1-1-1, but it was better than what would come.
In February, Florida ended up winning just five of 16 games and failed to win a single game at home to set a dubious franchise record.
The Panthers finished strong enough at 2-0-1 before the season was put on hold March 12 to give them some hope and momentum, but on the scoresheet, Barkov and Huberdeau struggled.
“We are not thinking about the bad. The season is over and now it is real playoffs and is doesn’t matter about the points, I just want to help my team,” Huberdeau said.
“Playing the Islanders is all that matters.”
Said Barkov: “Everybody feels good and we can’t wait to play games. We’re all probably sick of practicing, but at least we get to be together. Now we’re going to Toronto and everything changes. It’s game time and I honestly can’t wait to play.”
Barkov, to be fair, was hit from behind by Montreal’s Shea Weber and went awkwardly into the back boards in that first game back Feb. 1 at Montreal, appearing to injure his left knee.
At the time of the injury, the Panthers were legitimately worried Barkov could miss a few months. Instead, he was back in the lineup after missing just a few games.
Barkov’s numbers, save for a west-coast stretch where he had three goals and six points, never recovered. Barkov ended the regular season with no goals and no assists in his final six games.
Huberdeau got a goal in the home win over Montreal March 7, his first in seven games.
The four months off between Florida’s final game March 9 in St. Louis and the start of training camp seems to have been good for Barkov physically. Huberdeau has looked sharp in practice
Barkov says he is ready to roll. Huberdeau said he is “rested and stronger.”
If that carries over against the Islanders, it can only be good news for Florida.
“I don’t really think about myself that much, I just know we’re going to be playing playoff (hockey) and it all about the team,” said Barkov, who should open the series against the Islanders centering Florida’s top line with Frank Vatrano and Evgenii Dadonov.
“I want to be at my best, I have been working really hard to get into good shape again and I am feeling really goo on the ice. Now it’s time to play. …
”I would rather win the Stanley Cup and not score a goal. But I know I have to help the team in that way. I have to be better in the offensive zone too.”
Huberdeau’s late slide ended up costing him his spot on the top line along his partner-in-crime as Quenneville tried to get both of them going.
When the Panthers returned from their long hiatus, Quenneville set things up much like they were before the break: Huberdeau and Barkov were on two different lines, although they remain together on the top power play unit.
Huberdeau is now with center Erik Haula and right winger Mike Hoffman. It is an interesting trio, one which on paper looks pretty good — especially for Hoffman.
Both Haula and Huberdeau can move the puck around and should give Hoffman the opportunity to unleash his bomb of a shot or work in low.
“The way we finished in St. Louis, things were going well,’’ Huberdeau said of his line combination. “The team was playing well, the lines looked good.”
Quenneville likes the look of his top two lines or else he would have already changed things up. We’ll see how it goes moving forward.
“When we separated them late in the year, we felt our team improved in ways that every line was reliable offensively with a more defensive mindset,” Quenneville said.
“We are going to need that defensive mindset against the Islander knowing we’re going to have to play in our end and be patient in there. On the production side of thing, one of their strengths is scoring and making plays. When it comes time to do it, do your thing.”