Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
PANTHERS:
Team has gone 11-3-0 since All-Star break.
SUNRISE — When the Panthers reconvened in New York after the All-Star break, they did so as a distant thought in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They were 12 points behind Philadelphia. Only seven points separated them from the worst team in the conference.
The season was on the brink of being another lost one after an 81-point disaster last season.
The division championship in 2015-16 looked increasingly like a fluke after the organization cycled through three coaches and two general managers since that season. Then it all changed. The Panthers have gone 11-3-0 in the 14 games since the All-Star break, rocketing themselves up the Eastern Conference standings and transforming themselves into a legitimate postseason candidate.
They entered Friday night’s game against Buffalo just three points out of a playoff spot with three games in hand on Columbus.
How did it happen? Here are some explanations:
Tweaked top six
In the final game before the All-Star break, Panthers coach Bob Boughner made the tough choice to split up Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. The two played together on the top line all season, practically carrying the Florida offense at times. But that left Vincent Trocheck vulnerable on the second line. He dealt with a rotating crew of wingers that included players like Dryden Hunt, Henrik Haapala, Connor Brickley and Jamie McGinn.
When Boughner sent Huberdeau to play with Trocheck and Denis Malgin (now sidelined a couple weeks with a knee injury), it made the Panthers deeper. The top line now consists of Evgenii Dadonov, Barkov and Nick Bjugstad, a trio driven by Barkov’s all-around game, Bjugstad’s big frame and Dadonov’s speed.
The plumped top two lines forced opposing coaches to prepare for two scoring lines instead of isolating just one. Since the All-Star break, Dadonov, Barkov and Bjugstad have 18 goals. Huberdeau, Trocheck and Malgin have 12 goals.
Power play
Since the All-Star break, the Panthers’ power play is the best in the Eastern Conference, converting on 29.8 percent of opportunities. The only team with a better power play since Jan. 30 is Vegas (30 percent). In the first 47 games of the season, Florida’s power play scored on just 16 percent of chances. Florida’s man-advantage unit has been roughly twice as good as it was earlier in the season.
The good thing for the Panthers is that the recent production has been nearly split between the top power play unit (eight goals) and the second group (six goals).
Late game
The Panthers-Sabres game did not end in time for this edition. SunSentinel.com/sports
The bad news is that Florida’s offense has been increasingly dependent on scoring on the power play. In the last 14 games, 28.6 percent of all their goals have come on the power play. The league average is 21.2 percent, suggesting the production is not sustainable. Even Pittsburgh, the league’s best power play, only gets 25.9 percent of its goals with an extra man.
Goaltending by committee
During the last 14 games, three different Panthers goalies won games. Harri Sateri filled in admirably when both Roberto Luongo and James Reimer were out with groin injuries. Sateri stepped up and led Florida to four straight wins immediately after the break. In those four games, Sateri had a sparkling .950 save percentage and 1.50 goals against average.
When Reimer returned to the lineup, he won his first two games. He also allowed at least five goals in two of his three appearances since the break.
Roberto Luongo, meanwhile, keeps ticking for the Panthers. Luongo missed six games with a hand injury and 27 more with a groin injury this season, but has been elite when healthy. Overall, he has a .928 save percentage and 2.58 GAA. The Panthers are 5-1-0 since his return and he’ll start again on Sunday against Philadelphia.
Fortunate schedule
During their current four-game winning streak, the Panthers have beat good teams, with all four likely playoff clubs. But they’ve also been lucky to face them when they have.
Pittsburgh’s Derrick Brassard hadn’t joined the Penguins yet, and the team started a backup goalie on the second night of a backto-back. Toronto’s Auston Matthews is injured and the Maple Leafs also started a backup goalie on the second night of a backto-back. Florida beat both teams in the last week.
Prior to this tough stretch of games, the Panthers played seven of eight games against teams not currently in a playoff position. Florida feasted on those games, going 7-1-0 across two road trips and a home stand.
The Panthers’ surge also coincided with their competition’s slide. Since the All-Star break, Eastern Conference foes like Columbus (5-8-2), Carolina (6-6-3), the Islanders (4-8-2) and the Rangers (3-10-1) have all faltered. Florida took advantage of the opening.
Poise in tight games
The Panthers have seemingly learned how to win tight games. Since the AllStar break, Florida is 6-1-0 in one-goal games, including all four games during the current four-game winning streak. In the first half of the season, the Panthers were just 10-7-6 in one-goal games.
Boughner attributed the late-game success to more familiarity with the systems he’s implemented. Under pressure, the team no longer has to think about what to do, they just do it, he said. In each of the last four victories, the game-winning goal has come in the last five minutes of the game.
“It’s been a close game and finding ways to win in the third period,” Boughner said. “That shows another level of our game, a little more maturity in our game and composure.”