NHL’s best home-ice advantage is ... Sunrise? ‘We’re trying to make it an imposing place’
On its surface, there’s nothing all too exceptional about the Panthers’ home venue in Sunrise.
The Panthers routinely rank in the bottom quarter of the league in average attendance, and their home arena in suburban Broward County is nearly 25 years old, sits across the street from a shopping mall and has hosted as many Backstreet Boys shows — five — as Stanley Cup playoff victories.
Right now, it doesn’t really even have a name, just a placeholder moniker: FLA Live Arena.
It’s also the NHL’s most daunting home-ice advantage so far this season and on pace to be one of the best in history.
“We’re trying to make it at imposing place,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said Saturday after his Panthers beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4 for their
10th consecutive home win to start the season. “We just don’t want to be good at home. We want to be great.”
On Wednesday, they will have a chance to make NHL history when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at 7 p.m. With a win, the Panthers (13-2-3) would tie the NHL record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season, joining the 1963-64 Chicago Blackhawks as the only teams in league history to open 11-0 at home.
As it already stands, Florida is one of only four teams in history to start 10-0 at home and it has outscored opponents 4822.
The Flyers (8-5-3) are, like most of the teams the Panthers have beaten at home so far this year, an early postseason contender and the type of historic franchise to potentially draw a good crowd to the arena Wednesday, even on the eve of Thanksgiving.
Attendance numbers have improved so far, anyway. Florida currently ranks 26th in the league with an average attendance of 13,112 — nothing spectacular, but still its best ranking since the 2016-17 NHL season when the Panthers were coming off a trip to the traditional 16-team Cup playoffs. In the 2019-20 season, Florida ranked 29th before the
COVID-19 pandemic halted the season and kept fans mostly out of arenas until this season.
Across the league, attendance numbers are down as some fans are reticent to return to packed venues with the coronavirus still a threat, but the Panthers’ numbers are trending in the right direction.
In its past four games, Florida is averaging 13,462.3 fans. In their first six, the Panthers averaged 12,880, and that’s with the 14,308 opening-night crowd juicing the total.
As Florida has won, the rink has gotten rowdier.
“It’s just the atmosphere in the rink,” right wing Owen Tippett said Saturday. “Obviously, the
guys build off that. When you have crowds like you do, it’s easier to get energy and get up on the bench.”
Still, 25 teams play in front of bigger crowds on a regular basis and none protect home ice like the Panthers. As much as Florida likes playing in front of its loyal fans — and those who have stuck with the team for 30 years of mediocrity are undeniably loyal — it can’t possibly be the entire explanation for this run of success.
One part is simple: The Panthers are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and one of the best teams in the league, with more points than anyone else. They’re good enough to be successful on any rink anywhere.
Florida’s arena has also occasionally been voted the worst ice in the league by players, most recently in a 2018 NHL Players’ Association poll. The Panthers, of course, are fine dealing with whatever quirks the rest of the league doesn’t like.
“We are used to the bounces,” defenseman Radko Gudas said Nov. 15. “We’re used to our ice.”
The exact manner in which this group is constructed probably plays a role, too. This team has surged to the top of the standings mostly because of its depth.
As good as Florida’s stars are, the Panthers’ offense is the best in the league because it can roll out four above-average lines on any night.
Florida has nine players with at least 10 points so far this season and seven with at least six goals, including one from each of its four usual lines, and each of its four most frequently used line combinations has a positive goal differential.
At home, depth plays an even more important role. In hockey, home teams get to make the last change after stoppages, meaning Brunette gets to see what lineup the opponent is sending out before he has to choose his.
The Panthers are deep enough to essentially never be at a disadvantage, and have enough different looks to match up with whatever their opponent tries.
“We know how good we are and we play all the way throughout the entire lineup,” winger Frank Vatrano said Saturday. “I think that’s what it is. We’re just really confident in our group.”