Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Special teams excel in win
Panthers sharp against Capitals to end skid
The Florida Panthers numbers on the power play and the penalty kill are not impressive through the season’s first seven games. Their power play ranks a middling 15th in the NHL, and their penalty kill is tied for the second-worst in the league.
The special teams units, though, came through for the Panthers during Saturday night’s 4-1 win over Washington that snapped a three-game losing streak. The power play scored twice in a game for the first time this season, while the penalty kill was perfect for the first time this season.
“We won the special teams battle,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “There’s no secret. Our kill was good tonight. Our power play got us some timely goals. It’s a good mixture for a road win.”
The Panthers penalty kill allowed three goals on Friday night to the Pittsburgh Penguins, negating an early 2-0 lead and nearly overshadowing the loss to Roberto Luongo to an apparent right hand injury. The performance plunged them to the bottom of the league’s penalty kill rankings before Saturday’s effort.
Florida went 4 for 4 on the penalty kill against the Capitals, though two of the penalties came in the game’s final two minutes. The Panthers even scored a shorthanded goal when Aleksander Barkov potted an empty-netter.
Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck each scored on the power play against Washington, with Trocheck’s coming on a second-period 5-on-3 opportunity. The Capitals took six penalties in the game, including a four-minute stretch in the second period when they were assessed three penalties.
“I think the biggest thing tonight was after our first chances, we were getting the puck back and getting back second chances, third chances,” Trocheck said. “That was the key tonight. The first four or five games, we had one-and-done opportunities.”
The Panthers power play unveiled a new wrinkle on Saturday night, elevating defenseman Aaron Ekblad to the top unit instead of Keith Yandle. Yandle piloted the first power play unit through the first six games.
“I just think that he’s got a big shot presence and that makes the PK have to sort of respect that,” Boughner said. “It pulls them out a little bit higher. That’s what opens up some little plays for us.”
Ekblad played 5:18 with the man-advantage, while Yandle only played 1:36.
Special teams will hold a larger significance this season, with more penalties being called and a renewed emphasis on both slashing and faceoff violations. NHL teams are averaging 11.4 penalty minutes a game, meaning that more than a third of the game is not played at even strength.
The penalty minutes are the most in the NHL since 2012-13, when teams also averaged 11.4 per game. the Florida lead.
“He battled back hard and I thought they logged some important minutes against their top players,” Boughner said. “They shortened their bench against us at the end and we had a lot of guys with a lot of ice time. Matty was one of them and I thought he played great.”