Florida Panthers vs Arizona Coyotes | March 24th, 2018

Sunrise, FL – Be cool, my babies. The Panthers are coming off a tough 4-0 loss in Columbus, but all hope isn’t lost. Florida was only three points behind the New Jersey Devils coming into this game, and Jersey is facing the #1 seeded, Tampa Bay Lightning. Meanwhile, the Cats are playing host to the Arizona Coyotes, who are tied for last place in the west. Sounds like an easy way for the Panthers to gain some ground in the playoff chase, right?

For the past couple of months, I’ve been hearing this Panthers squad being compared to last season’s Miami Heat. If you remember, the Heat got off to a terrible start, only to turn it around in the 2^nd half of the season. Despite putting together one of the better 2^nd halves in franchise history, the team still missed the playoffs by one game. Sounds familiar, right?

The Panthers might be headed in that same direction, but they’re still in the driver’s seat. They can’t fall asleep at the wheel though. Someone tell coach Bob Boughner to give these dudes some Cuban coffee. We’re in South Florida. There’s plenty to go around. That being said, Florida only needs to worry about surpassing the Devils.

I was beginning to think it just wasn’t their night. Florida was outshot by Arizona 9-13 in the 1^st period, and found themselves down 1-0, off of a Clayton Keller goal, at the 1^st intermission. The Cats turned it around in the 2^nd period. They outshot Arizona 20-11, and had the power play advantage 3:43 to 0:53, but could not find the back of the net. Arizona, on the other hand, capitalized on their 0:53-second power play, and went up 0-2 on the Panthers thanks to Richard Panik.

Goal number one for Trocheck goes top corns. 🌽 🌽 🌽 #ARIvsFLA pic.twitter.com/7dwmymnjc3

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) March 25, 2018

I guess the Cats just wanted to give the Coyotes a head start, because, in the 3^rd period, Florida’s game plan finally came through. They outshot the Coyotes 18-4 and had a 3:05 (How very Miami of them) to 0:00 power play advantage. My favorite stat of the night though was that the Panthers scored four goals in the 3^rd period. Vincent Trocheck was involved in three of them. He scored the 1^st two and assisted in the 4^th. The 4^th goal was a power-play spoon-fed empty-netter for Jamie McGinn, passed up by Aleksander Barkov. McGinn said in his postgame comments about the play “This guy’s the most unselfish person I’ve ever met” in regards to Barkov’s pass.

Vince “Thirty-Goal-Scorer” Trocheck pic.twitter.com/oNeyhp3mdo

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) March 25, 2018

The boys stuck to their game plan and it paid off. Before the game, coach Boughner said that, against Columbus, they had gotten away from what they do best, and that it had been a topic of conversation before tonight’s game. The Panthers beat their opponents with speed and forward advancement of the puck.

A four-goal comeback in the third for the @FlaPanthers and a massive W.

No. Quit. pic.twitter.com/6VN0oWMHmo

— NHL (@NHL) March 25, 2018

On Thursday, Trocheck (24 years old) played his 300^th NHL game. Tonight, Aaron Ekblad (22 years old) played in his 300^th as well. The 300-game mark is considered to be the point where NHL players “come into their own”. The Panthers have a nice young, and experienced core, and have picked up steam at the right time. Panthers win tonight 4-2. Next up, they face the New York Islanders on Monday, March 26^th.

Tonight’s 3-stars

• FLA Denis Malgin
• FLA Vincent Trocheck
• ARI Darcy Kuemper

Photo by Eliot J. Schechter