Petry and Bobrovsky battle net front against New Jersey. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
After a chaotic game against Vancouver, Florida returned to low-event hockey as they took the 1-0 shutout win over the New Jersey Devils. With Loustarinen out week to week, recovering from burns from a freak barbecuing accident, Jack Devine got the call-up from the Charlotte Checkers to make his NHL debut. Jeff Petry got his official 1000th game ceremony and silver stick to start the match. Bobrovsky had a fantastic bounce-back game after the last outing, and strong defence kept the Devils at bay. This week brought some clarity to the injured players and who is now also going to be out for a while.
New Blood:
If there’s one thing that’s been consistent through 20 games, it’s that Florida’s lines have been anything but. The Cats’ top line featured Samoskevich-Lundell-Marchand, the second line had Boqvist-Rodrigues-Reinhart, a third line of Verhaeghe-Bennett-Greer, and then the fourth line had Gregor-Kunin-Devine. Devine played well in his debut with 2 SOG and 2 hits with 8:20 TOI. Ice time was pretty evenly distributed as only Reinhart and Lundell had over 20 minutes of ice time; the rest of the top nine were comfortably in the 14-18 TOI range. Samoskevich said it best during his media availability after morning skate: the team is used to guys being in and out of the lineup at this point. HC Paul Maurice said of Devine pre-game, “We think we got a real good one here.” He went on to say that he hopes Jack enjoys the game and that his debut is a milestone and an incredible accomplishment for a young player. Devine spoke with the media post-game and said, “It was special. Surreal. Just so thankful for everyone that’s helped me get to this point -my family, these guys. It’s crazy how loud it was in that building.” With Panthers dropping like flies this season, it’s great to see the new talent fit in well with the system and mesh with the group in the room.
Bounce Back Game:
To say that Monday night’s game was a rough outing for Bobrovsky would be perhaps a bit of an understatement. You never want to see your goalie give up 5 goals on only 15 shots. However, Bob has excelled at bouncing back after games like that, and he did just that against New Jersey. He stopped all 31 shots that came his way. Bob stood tall, especially in the third period when the Devils outshot the Cats 4-12 and during the 6v5 in the final 1:31. Jersey got 5 shots during the final 1:09 of the match, and Mikkola said to the media, “Those are huge and gave us the two points, thanks to Bobby.” Bobrovsky, as always, was quick to give credit to his teammates, “The team was great. You’re not going to have a shutout without the teammates in front of you. They did a great job in front – offensively and defensively.” Bob only faced two power plays with the PK stepping up in support; they kept the Devils from doing any damage on the man advantage. Sam Reinhart scored the only goal of the game with a move that looked eerily similar to his first goal from Game 6 of the Cup Final; something HC Paul Maurice also noticed and commented on to the media post-game.
Injury Updates:
Florida had another injury scare when Evan Rodrigues went down the tunnel at the end of the first period after taking an elbow to the face. Luckily, he was back on the bench to start the second period. It seems that the elbow might’ve popped some of his stitches from the other night; he played the rest of the game with a full face shield. Matthew Tkachuk revealed on his podcast Wingman that he’s hoping to start skating soon. Reporter David Dwork on X posted Wednesday that he’d heard reports that Tkachuk had started skating and could be back in the lineup in December. The timeline aligns with what Bill Zito said on the NHL Network the other day, that the Panthers expect Tkachuk to return in late December. Luostarinen currently has the shortest-term injury as he suffered burns from a freak accident with a gas grill. He’s listed as week-to-week at the moment. HC Paul Maurice told the media that Eetu didn’t have to stay overnight at the hospital and that his return will depend on how he feels when he puts his gear on. The Panthers announced that Cole Schwindt broke his arm and will have surgery; he’s expected to be out 2-3 months. In a year where the injuries have been routine, Florida is just 1 win off their record from the last two seasons through 20 games when they’ve gone on to win the Stanley Cup. If they can keep finding ways to win games even with so many pieces missing, they’ll be in good shape when guys start to return to the lineup. Should Florida stay in the playoff race and improve as the season goes on, it might just be its most impressive regular season of the last three to get to the postseason.
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