SUNRISE — Anton Lundell came into Friday with just one goal in the first 13 games of the season for the Florida Panthers before getting his first NHL hat trick Friday night.
The Panthers are fortunate to boast one of the more talented lineups in the NHL. They have enough firepower to pull the rope if one player, or line, isn’t contributing much offensively.
Lundell, 25, is more than a one-trick pony, he’s used in all situations: even-strength, power play, shorthanded, shootouts.
Yet before Friday, his lone goal of the season came on Oct 12 in a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
He helped the Panthers polish off the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 win on Friday night.
The numbers weren’t alarming since the Panthers value Lundell’s defensive capabilities over point production, but it was still lower than you’d expect from a player like him over a month into the season.
Any concerns regarding offensive contributions were put to bed on Friday.
“Our concern would be for him, that his confidence wouldn’t be where it needs to be,” coach Paul Maurice said, dismissing any concern for Lundell’s numbers.
“What he is great at is what happened in the third period tonight when [Kyle] Connor and [Mark] Scheifele go together.
”He, Eetu [Luostarinen] and Lars [Eller], that was their best hockey. That’s his strength. That’s what we count on the most for.”
At the 2:38 mark of the second period against Winnipeg, the snake-bitten Lundell found the back of the net, scoring his second goal of the season after beating newly acquired goalie Nico Daws with a wrist shot off the rush, giving Florida a two-goal lead.
Daws was one of the players Winnipeg got back from the New Jersey Devils last week in the blockbuster trade that sent three-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck out east.
Funny enough, last summer when the Panthers kicked tires on Hellebuyck, multiple reports said the Jets wanted Lundell back in a potential trade.
Florida was not going to trade the young Finn, who already has two Stanley Cups and is seen as a future captain by some in the Panthers’ brass.
Lundell didn’t hide his emotions after his first goal. He pointed, and looked up at the rafters before cracking a smile with his teammates.
“I think you saw kind of a weight off his shoulders in the celebration on that first goal,” Seth Jones said of Lundell. “We were making fun of him after the game. But it’s nice to see him put one in. I know he’s been working really hard during the games and doing his job every night.”
Late in the third with the Panthers up 3-2, Lundell gave his side an insurance marker, burying in a rebound attempt for his second goal of the night with 6:27 to play in regulation.
Lundell completed his first NHL hat trick after putting away an empty netter from his own zone into the empty cage.
Through 14 games this season the Panthers have already scored five hat tricks (Brady Tkachuk x2, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Lundell), a tie for the second-most in franchise history. They had six in 2021-22.
“[It] felt pretty unreal,” Lundell said postgame about his hat trick. “I was a little nervous because it’s a long shot, and sometimes it goes wide, but I was just happy it went in.”
ON DECK: GAME No. 15
DETROIT RED WINGS at FLORIDA PANTHERS