Losses eclipse Jokinen’s play
Perhaps lost in the disappointment of consecutive home losses after a franchise5-0 road trip has been the return to form of Panthers second-line left wing Jussi Jokinen.
Jokinen, the fulcrum for the success of the Panthers’ second line last season, as well as for the overall franchise47-win season, with 60 points, including a team-leading 42 assists, notched another helper in Florida’s first-period on Friday, a power-play goal by Nick Bjgustad in the 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.
Jokinen, who got off to a horrid start, partly due to a knee injury that cost him nine games in the first month of the season, has four goals and nine points in the past nine games, including two in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to Edmonton.
Panthers general manager/ coach Tom Rowe felt that Jokinen, an alternate captain selected for his quiet leadership and work ethic, was trying to shoulder too much of the scoring load when top-seven forwards Jonthan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Nick Bjugstad were out with long-term injuries. The injuries also caused Rowe to scramble the lines, so Jokinen wasn’t always playing with Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith, last year’s trio who combined for 68 goals and163 points.
“Juice has gotten his confidence back,” Rowe said recently. “He was putting too much pressure on himself to carry the team and trying to do a little bit toomuch.… We had a couple of discussions about how he was forcing things that weren’t there. Now he’s back playing the way he can with his head and his intelligence, making the quick little plays and holding onto the puck when he needs to and I think that’s helped Vinnie and Smitty at the same time.”
Jokinen believes the return of Huberdeau and Barkov on Feb. 3 has created a domino effect on the team’s revitalized offense.
“That gave us confidence that we can score some goals, more than the first half of the year,” said Jokinen after the road trip in which the Panthers scored 20 goals in five games. “Every line can score and it’s someone different every night.”
Jokinen, 33, who has another year remaining on a $4 million per-season contract, said he felt guilty that he was letting the team down during his early season slump.
“Whether you’re Sidney Crosby or Jussi Jokinen or a first-year player you’re going to struggle and not going to score every game,” said Jokinen, who has nine goals and 22 points in 50 games. “It’s having that mental strength and confidence in yourself; you hope your coaches have confidence in you and things will come. Work hard every day and every game to give yourself the best chance to be the special player you are.
“Obviously, you count on yourself to help this team offensively and in the first half of the season I wasn’t able to do that. It wasn’t fun. We weren’t winning and you weren’t able to help your team so it wasn’t a good feeling. Now, I feel our line is playing the same way we played last year and hopefully, we can keep it up.”
The second-line trio of Jokinen, Trocheck and Smith has just 40 goals and 91 points through 60 games, but all three have been vital cogs on the Panthers’ vastly improved third-ranked penalty kill (85.3 percent), compared to last year’s 24th-ranked PK (79.5 percent).
Trocheck, 23, a first-time All-Star this season, is holding up his end with a teamleading 21 goals and 42 points. While Smith has had trouble finding the back of the net with just 10 goals, compared to last season’s career-high 25, he has taken on Jokinen’s playmaking role of late, with 17 assists, including two on Friday and seven in his past seven games.
“On our line everybody can score and make plays,” Jokinen said.