The Comeback Cats are alive and well as Florida overturns a goal deficit for the third straight game. After having nothing going for the first forty minutes of the match, the Panthers found their offense to score five unanswered goals and take the regulation win. Paul Maurice worked some of his witchcraft in the locker room because the Cats came out of the second intermission as a totally different team. Maurice did mix some of the lines, opting to put back together the Greer-Bennett-Marchand line, which has proven to have good chemistry together. Bobrovsky’s excellence between the pipes kept the game within reach until Florida found its offensive gear.
40 Minute Struggle:
Florida looked slow and sloppy through the first two periods. They struggled to make passes and get pucks to the net. While they ended the night with a respectable 22 SOG, through two periods, they only had 8, which is well below any average they’ve had this season. Carolina got on the board first in the opening period with a goal from Robinson that Bob probably wants back. Svechnikov doubled the lead as he got a breakaway coming out of the penalty box in the second period. Florida and Carolina play an extremely similar style of game, but in the first 2/3rds of the match, the Canes were executing it at a higher level. It’s not often that Paul Maurice gets visibly animated while chewing the team out on the bench, but whatever he said there and in the locker room woke the team up and set them straight on how they want to play their game. With the East as close as it is you’ll take the points any way you can get them, but it wasn’t a win the Panthers should hang their hat on outside of highlighting how they were able to fight back. After the game, Paul Maurice said, “We could’ve been in a world of hurt going into Christmas, almost an insurmountable task. And the opposite is true. We’re 8-2 in our last 10. The two games we lost were on back-to-back nights. I’m really proud of how they stuck together.”
Big Play Bob:
Bob’s stats won’t be super flattering or reflective of his game since SOG were so low as the Panthers held the Hurricanes to 19 SOG. However, he made several huge saves in the first two periods to keep the game close. One of his biggest saves of the night was on a shot by Staal in the second period. The other huge save he made was on a Hurricane breakaway chance that could’ve made the game 0-3. It was also a milestone win for Bobrovsky as he’s now tied for 8th all-time in goalie wins. Florida is 8-2 in their last 10 games, and Sergei finding his game after an up-and-down November has been a big part of the team’s success. The Canes only had two power plays, but Bob and the penalty killers in front of him did a fantastic job of keeping Carolina ineffective on the man-advantage. Bobrovsky didn’t get one of the game’s stars; however, he was the reason Florida was able to stage a comeback.
5 Goals 1 Period:
Who needs to play a full 60 when your offense can just explode in 20 minutes like the Panthers’ did? Like the last two games, the Florida offense has come alive in the third period in a way that’s reminiscent of the 2023-2024 team that was the best 3rd period team in the league. Niko Mikkola got his first goal of the season to get the Panthers on the board just under four minutes into the period. Mikkola took a slapshot from the blue line after receiving a pass from Luostarinen, who nearly scored moments before; Reinhart got the secondary assist as he picked up the rebounded puck to get it to Eetu. Just over two minutes later, Luke Kunin scored his second goal of the season to tie the game 2-2. Ekblad kept the play alive in the Hurricanes’ zone, and his shot was tipped by Gregor and then rebounded right to Kunin, who beat Anderson. 40 seconds later, Anton Lundell scored to give Florida their first lead of the night. Eetu took the initial shot that got blocked, and Reinhart hunted down the puck behind the net before making the pass to Lundell. Anton took the quick shot to score, and Florida never looked back. Three minutes after Lundell’s goal, Sam Bennett made it a two-goal lead. A stretch pass to the neutral zone from Ekblad got picked up by Greer. Greer then went to shoot it around the boards, but instead the puck took an odd bounce back toward the middle of the ice. Bennett picked it up, then skated away from pressure, which gave him enough time to spin and shoot to score. Quick passing between Reinhart & Marchand eventually got the puck to Jones, who had a wide open net to shoot at. Anderson committed to Marchand & Reinhart’s side of the ice, but Sam passed to Jones instead to ice the game with just under 5 minutes to go. When Niko Mikkola spoke to the media postgame, he said, “You could feel and see how we responded after those two periods. I think that was a playoff period for us. Really happy with how we showed up in the third.”
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