Winning games is putting the tank in a bit of a precarious spot, but the Panthers always play Boston like it’s a do-or-die playoff game. If this season has taught me anything, it’s that Florida’s structure and team culture are second to none. The longer a player is able to play within the system, the better they get. The Cats looked cohesive despite missing 11 players from their lineup, and they played extremely tight defensively. The Sam’s Club continues to fuel the offense while Bobrovsky shut down Boston’s late-game push.

Team Buy-In:

Players talk about buying in to a coach’s system all the time, but it doesn’t always translate to the ice. In this case, however, it does as all the new players are playing the Florida system to a T. With the Cats down to two healthy defensemen, the pairs were a bit scrambled as Mike Benning got time playing with Gustav Forsling while Sebrango was paired with Jones. Florida called up two players from Charlotte, Bjornfot and Hovorka, to fill in as the third pairing. Ekblad’s likely done for the year with a broken finger, and Kulikov broke his nose, both injuries sustained during the Ottawa game on Tuesday. Kulikov could return to the lineup against Pittsburgh. Florida’s defensive structure suffocated the Bruins for two solid periods before Boston got some sustained pressure in the third period. A penalty kill missing Barkov, Reinhart, Marchand, Ekblad, and Lundell was a perfect 2/2 and killed off a big penalty late in the third period. If you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t have thought that the Panthers were missing so many players, and that’s a great testament to how guys come into the team and buy in to what they’re doing. HC Paul Maurice said to the media, “The bench was energetic. They’re not just going through the motions. They played hard and deserved to win the game, especially with the adversity we faced coming into it.”

Sam’s Club Offense:

After struggling to score for most of the season, Mackie Samoskevich now has goals in three straight games. The young forward has had a bit of a snake-bitten season, but his current linemates of Eetu Luostarinen and A.J. Greer have helped fuel his offense as of late. The goal is listed as unassisted, but Mackie’s chance developed because of the hard forecheck of Greer at the end boards, which freed up the puck. Samoskevich intercepted the attempted pass by Boston and found enough time and space at the top of the faceoff circle to wire one past Swayman to open the scoring. Not long after, Sam Bennett doubled the lead. Hard work along the boards by Bennett and Jones eventually worked the puck up to A.J. Greer at the blue line. He took the initial shot that Boston blocked, and Bennett got the rebound past Swayman top-shelf for the 2-0 lead. After having a career year last season along with winning the Conn Smythe, Bennett is having another career year this season with 26Gs & 31As for 57 points. Leaving out the 10 games he played in Florida during the 20-21 season, Sam is shooting a career best 13.7% and has a career high 18:28 TOI. This season has developed new parts of Bennett’s game, the most surprising of which was finding out that he can kill penalties, and he’s pretty good at it.

Living The Dream:

Although his future isn’t set in stone yet, Sergei Bobrovsky has made it known that he’d like to stay in Florida. A sentiment all too familiar to anyone who’s listened to players talk when they have contract negotiations going on or after they’ve signed an extension. Despite the rough year, post-Olympics, Sergei has shown that Playoff Bobrovsky is still in there. He’s had more games with a SV% above .960 than below .900 since the Olympic break. Against the Bruins, Bob had a .966 SV% and stopped 28 of 29 shots; the only goal he allowed was at the end of the first period, when Fraser Minten picked up a rebound and had a wide-open net to shoot at. Bob wasn’t particularly busy in the first two periods, seeing only 9 & 5 shots respectively. The third period is where he was a huge difference maker, as he turned aside all 15 shots while the Panthers managed just 5 SOG in the final twenty minutes. The Bruins had a couple of really great sequences that could’ve resulted in goals, but Sergei denied them the tying goal. After the match, when he spoke with the media, Bob said, “Honestly, I’m living the team. I play in the NHL. I’m starting goalie for the Florida Panthers, two-time Stanley Cup Champions. I’m enjoying it. I enjoy each and every moment.” Bennett had plenty of praise for his goalie, telling the media, “That’s vintage Bobby right there. He stood on his head and made some unbelievable saves. That’s what he does. Not the first time we’ve seen that.”

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.